Lapierre puts ORECA on Algarve pole

The Frenchman came out on top in a closely-fought qualifying session in which the top five cars were separated by just over a half a second. Lapierre's pole time of 1m32.020s aboard the lead ORECA-AIM 01 was just over one tenth of a second quicker than Stefan Mucke's best in the 007 Lola-Aston Martin.

"Our car has been competitive since the beginning of the weekend," said Lapierre. "We knew it would be good for this kind of track because we have lots of mechanical grip. It was a tough fight, but in the end we got it, which is good for tomorrow."

Bruno Senna lapped the 2.86-mile circuit in the second ORECA one tenth slower than Mucke to claim third. Danny Watts, who had topped two of the three practice sessions, ended up fourth for the Strakka team.

Frenchman Yann Clairay claimed class pole for the Luc Alphand Chevrolet team in the poorly-supported GT1 field. Richard Lietz edged out Gianmaria Bruni to claim GT2 qualifying honours for the Felbermayr Porsche squad.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                         Car                Time
 1.  P1   Panis/Lapierre                  ORECA AIM          1m31.020s
 2.  P1   Charouz/Enge/Mucke              Lola Aston Martin  1m31.160s
 3.  P1   Monteiro/Senna                  ORECA AIM          1m31.236s
 4.  P1   Watts/Leventis                  Ginetta Zytek      1m31.468s
 5.  P1   Primat/Ramos/Turner             Lola Aston Martin  1m31.556s
 6.  P1   Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini         Audi R10 TDI       1m32.124s
 7.  P1   Boullion/Tinseau                Pescarolo Judd     1m32.232s
 8.  P1   Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman    Audi R10 TDI       1m32.284s
 9.  P1   Belicchi/Fassler/Prost          Lola Aston Martin  1m32.408s
10.  P2   Amaral/Pla                      Ginetta Zytek      1m34.296s
11.  P1   Ragues/Mailleux                 Oreca Judd         1m34.328s
12.  P2   Erdos/Newton                    Lola Mazda         1m34.728s
13.  P2   Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter            Zytek              1m34.752s
14.  P2   Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini       Lola Judd          1m34.948s
15.  P2   Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou       Lola Judd          1m35.100s
16.  P2   Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini             Lola Judd          1m35.448s
17.  P2   Lahaye/Ajlani                   Pescarolo Mazda    1m37.076s
18.  P2   Salini/Salini/Jouanny           WR Zytek           1m37.088s
19.  P2   Nicolet/Hein                    Pescarolo Mazda    1m38.396s
20.  P2   Jorda/Cortes/Nieto              Lucchini Judd      1m39.296s
21.  P2   Cavailhes/Da Rocha/Ibanez       Courage AER        1m39.940s
22.  P2   Bruneau/Greaves/Sini            Radical AER        1m40.820s
23.  GT1  Clairay/Jousse/Goueslard        Corvette C6.R      1m42.052s
24.  GT1  Berville/Dumez/Lemeret          Saleen S7R         1m44.028s
25.  GT2  Lieb/Lietz                      Porsche 997 GT3    1m44.804s
26.  GT2  Bell/Bruni                      Ferrari F430 GT    1m44.868s
27.  GT2  Garcia/Mansell/Melo             Ferrari F430 GT    1m45.436s
28.  GT2  Pilet/Narac                     Porsche 997 GT3    1m45.744s
29.  GT2  Ehret/Farnbacher/Beltoise       Ferrari F430 GT    1m45.808s
30.  GT2  Ried/Felbermayr/Martins         Porsche 997 GT3    1m46.080s
31.  GT2  Simonsen/Kaffer                 Ferrari F430 GT    1m46.380s
32.  GT2  Cocker/Drayson                  Aston Martin       1m46.636s
33.  GT2  Campanico/von Thurn/Hartshorne  Ferrari F430 GT    1m46.672s
34.  GT2  Tenchini/Basso/Plati            Ferrari F430 GT    1m48.412s