Creation on Nurburgring pole
Nicolas Minassian secured Creation's first pole of the season after qualifying for the Nurburgring 1000 km today
The Frenchman, who has returned to the team after being loaned to rivals Pescarolo Sport for the Le Mans 24 Hours last month, recorded a lap of 1:44.850, to beat the French team by more than sixth tenths of a second.
His first flying lap of 1:41.121 would also have been good enough to take pole, proving that the Creation CA06/H Judd will be a force to be reckoned with weekend.
It marks a strong comeback for the team, who had to withdraw from the last round of the championship at Spa after Felipe Ortiz crashed the car beyond repair in practice.
"It shows really well that Creation know their stuff and how to do a good car," Minassian said. "Everyone did a very good job all together to change the car a lot between the sessions and it was in the right direction all the time.
"Even before qualifying we made another change which improved the car and we've got further yet to go.
"It's a nice reward for Creation because I know how hard they try. It's never easy for such a little team to compete against some bigger teams, but we are getting better and better prepared each time. Now we have to finish the race. A problem free race would be a greater reward and I'm sure we can do it."
Team boss Ian Bickerton praised Minassian's effort. He said: "As for qualifying, I thought Nic might do a 1:45, but to do a 1:44 was astounding. He's a complete mega and I'll never, ever swap him again for anything in the world!"
Eric Helary qualified second in the Pescarolo Sport entry, having, like countryman Minassian, chosen to wait until the second half of the session to go out and complete his lap time.
Shinji Nakano put the No. 13 Courage into third on the grid ahead of Swede Stefan Johansson in the Zytek.
Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 winners MG Lola took their class pole thanks to a superb effort by Tommy Erdos.
Stephane Ortelli put the Team Oreca Saleen on pole for the GT1 class.
Qualifying times:
Pos Cl Driver Make Time 1. P1 Minassian/Ortiz/Gabbiani Creation Judd 1:44.850 2. P1 Collard/Boullion/Helary Pescarolo C60 Judd 1:45.504 3. P1 Nakano/Kurosawa Courage LC70 Mugen 1:46.036 4. P1 Johansson/Noda Zytek 06S 1:46.123 5. P1 Primat/Fassler Courage LC 70 Judd 1:46.133 6. P1 Gounon/Frei/Fisken Courage LC70 Mugen 1:46.168 7. P2 Newton/Erdos MG Lola EX 264 1:46.672 8. P1 Berridge/Evans/Owen Lola B06/10 AER 1:47.510 9. P1 Lammers/Yoong Dome Judd 1:47.898 10. P2 Short/Barbosa Radical SR9 Judd 1:48.250 11. P2 Greaves/Moseley Radical SR9 06-T Judd 1:48.614 12. P2 Vergers/Barazi/Belloc Courage C65 AER 1:49.319 13. P2 Andre/Bouvet Courage C65 Ford 1:49.463 14. P2 Amaral/De Castro/Burgueno Lola B05/40 AER 1:49.734 15. P2 Ojjeh/Ragues Courage C65 Ford 1:49.830 16. P2 Lueders/Petersen/Brueck Courage C65 Judd 1:50.584 17. P2 Rostan/Bruneau Pilbeam Judd 1:50.750 18. P1 McGarrity/Cope/Collins Protran RS06/H 1:51.102 19. GT1 Ortelli/Ayari Saleen S7R 1:53.522 20. GT1 Vann/Hardman/Garcia Aston Martin DBR9 1:54.162 21. P2 Randaccio/Mancini/Collini Lucchini LMP2 1:54.175 22. GT1 Lamy/Gardel/Vosse Aston Martin DBR9 1:54.448 23. GT1 Kuismanen/Menten/Palttala Corvette C6-R 1:54.722 24. GT1 Policand/Goueslard/Alphand Corvette C5-R 1:55.057 25. GT1 Kox/Pergl/Vasiliev Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:55.568 26. GT2 Zonca/Bellicchi/Cioci Ferrari 430 GT 2:00.017 27. GT2 Drudi/Rosa/De Simone Ferrari 430 GT 2:00.088 28. GT2 Hughes/Bell Panoz Esperante GTLM 2:00.105 29. GT2 Eagling/Sugden Ferrari 430 GT 2:00.539 30. GT2 Lieb/Camathias Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:00.582 31. GT2 Ehret/Farnbacher Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:00.656 32. GT2 Bleekemolen/Hezemans Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R 2:01.064 33. GT2 Smith/Hesnault/Beltoise Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:01.221 34. GT2 Kristensen/Simonsen Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:01.429 35. GT2 Burgess/Collin/Bergmeister Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:01.449 36. GT2 Bouchut/Narac Porsche 996 RSR 2:01.688 37. GT2 Tomlinson/Dean/Hynes Panoz Esperante GTLN 2:01.830 38. GT2 Nielsen/Seefried/Baas Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:02.102 39. GT2 Kane/Crevels Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R 2:02.155 40. GT2 Daniels/Washington Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:03.760 41. GT2 Lambert/Lefort/Duez Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 2:04.141 42. GT2 Hartshorne/Dockerill/Greensall TVR Tuscan T400R 2:04.213 43. GT2 Yamagishi/Liddell/Basseng Porsche 996 GT3 RS 2:04.891
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