Gene leads Peugeot front row
Peugeot reinforced their dominance at Valencia by comfortably locking out the front row for tomorrow's Le Mans Series round
Marc Gene lapped the tight Spanish track almost half a second quicker than team-mate Pedro Lamy to secure pole for himself and co-driver Nicolas Minassian.
The nearest challenge to the mighty French squad came from the Arena-run Zytek, which in the hands of Hayanari Shimoda was just over a second off Gene's pace.
The 07S has become progressively more competitive as the team and drivers get to grips with the new machine, and it could be ideally placed should the Peugeots encounter any problems in Sunday's six-hour race.
Top LMP2 honours went to the fleet Zytek of Michael Vergers, which set the fourth quickest time overall.
The Barazi-run car, which the Dutchman will share with Juan Barazi and Karim Ojjeh, had a 0.3 second advantage over the MG Lola driven by Thomas Erdos. The RML car, which is shared with Mike Newton, was a comfortable 0.7 seconds up on the ASM Lola of Angel Burgueno.
In GT1 pole went to the thunderous Saleen of Soheil Ayari, who out-paced the similar car of Marco Cioci by over half a second. The remaining Corvettes and Astons were over a second off Ayari's pace.
In GT2 things were much closer, with barely a tenth separating the Porsche 997s of Richard Lietz and Dirk Werner. These two had a half second advantage over Marc Lieb's 997, while Allan Simonsen led the Ferrari challenge in fourth, a second behind Lietz.
Pos Drivers Car Time 1. Gene/Minassian Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP 1:23.489 2. Lamy/Sarrazin Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP 1:23.930 3. Johansson/Shimoda Zytek 07S Zytek 1:24.594 4. Barazi/Vergers/Ojjeh Zytek 07S Zytek 1:25.606 5. Boullion/Dumas Pescarolo Judd 1:25.617 6. Erdos/Newton MG Lola EX264 AER 1:25.946 7. Charouz/Mucke/Yoong Lola B07/17 Judd 1:26.084 8. Deletraz/Fassler/Alexander Lola B07/10 Audi 1:26.334 9. Barbosa/Hall/Short Pescarolo Judd 1:26.521 10. Amaral/De Castro/Burgeno Lola B05/40 AER 1:26.721 11. Greaves/Moseley/Liddell Radical SR9 AER 1:26.920 12. Frei/Cochet/Besson Courage LC70 AER 1:26.961 13. Binnie/Timpany/Buncombe Lola B05/40 Zytek 1:27.178 14. Primat/Tinseau Pescarolo Judd 1:27.459 15. Petrov/Gounon Courage LC75 AER 1:27.559 16. Lammers/Hart/Bleekemolen Dome S101.5 Judd 1:27.654 17. Burgess/De Pourtales/Siedler Pescarolo Judd 1:27.947 18. Hughes/Cunningham Radical SR9 Judd 1:28.060 19. Evans/Berridge/Owen Lola B06/10 AER 1:28.074 20. Nicolet/Filhol/Jouanny Courage LC75 AER 1:28.136 21. Lienhard/Theys/Van De Poele Lola B05/40 Judd 1:28.843 22. Rostan/Bruneau/Pullan Pilbeam MP93 Judd 1:31.224 23. Ortelli/Ayari Saleen S7-R 1:31.953 24. Perazzini/Cioci/Tavano Saleen S7-R 1:32.654 25. Alphand/Policand/Goueslard Corvette C6.R 1:32.943 26. Garcia/Halliday/Fittipaldi Aston Martin DBR9 1:33.391 27. Blanchemain/Dumez/Andre Corvette C5-R 1:33.586 28. Bouchut/Gardel/Gollin Aston Martin DBR9 1:33.885 29. Fisken/Zacchia/Franchi Aston Martin DBR9 1:34.892 30. Narac/Lietz Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:36.704 31. Werner/Ehret/Nielsen Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:36.848 32. Lieb/Pompidou Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:37.305 33. Bell/Simonsen Ferrari F430 GT 1:37.708 34. Caffi/Zardo Ferrari F430 GT 1:37.865 35. De Simone/Hernandez/Bonetti Ferrari F430 GT 1:37.926 36. Hesnault/Smith/Beltoise Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:37.968 37. Lambert/Lefort/Palttala Ferrari F430 GT 1:38.129 38. Kimber-Smith/Watts Panoz Esperante GTLM 1:38.514 39. Ried/Felbermayr/Gruber Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:38.537 40. Janis/Van Es Spyker C8 Spyder GT2 1:38.549 41. Belicchi/Chiesa/Kane Spyker C8 Spyder GT2 1:38.761 42. Drudi/Rosa/Mowlem Ferrari F430 GT 1:38.829 43. Dean/Milner Panoz Esperante GTLM 1:39.804 44. Hartshorne/McInerney/McInerney Panoz Esperante GTLM 1:42.164 45. Felbermayr/Ried Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 1:43.508 46. Basso/McCormick Ferrari F430 GT 1:43.770 47. Longechal/Yamagishi Dome S101.5 Mader 1:49.987
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