Neel Jani puts Rebellion on pole for Le Mans Series finale at Estoril
Rebellion driver Neel Jani took pole position for tomorrow's Le Mans Series decider at Estoril
The Swiss left his run late and jumped straight to the top of the times aboard Rebellion's lead Lola-Toyota coupe. His 1m30.118s lap around the former home of the Portuguese Grand Prix put him two tenths clear of Julien Jousse's Pescarolo-Judd.
Jani, who shares with Nicolas Prost, said: "We felt very confident after this morning [when he was fastest in final free practice] and knew we could do it if we got a free lap. I made a mistake, quite a big one actually, but it was still enough."
Jani said he and Prost will do their utmost to win tomorrow's six-hour race, even though team-mates Andrea Belicchi and Jean-Christophe Boullion only trail the championship-leading Pescarolo trio of Jousse, Emmanuel Collard and Christophe Tinseau by one point. Asked if team orders might come into play, he said: "I guess we will have to see in the last hour of the race, but we will be trying to win."
Tom Kimber-Smith topped the times in LMP2, the point for pole giving himself and Greaves Motorsport team-mate Karim Ojjeh the class title. They are now 15 points clear at the top of the points, which means they would win the title on countback if either of their rivals for the crown win the race and tie with them on points.
Kimber-Smith, who shares the Greaves Zytek-Nissan with Ojjeh and Olivier Lombard, said: "Everyone knew we would be coming here to get pole. Quite a few people have been saying that we haven't shown any pace this year, but today we proved them wrong."
Rob Bell took his first GT pole for JMW Motorsport since last year's Silverstone LMS round. The Briton edged out fellow Ferrari 458 driver Gianmaria Bruni (AF Corse) by less than a tenth of a second.
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time 1. LMP1 Jani/Prost Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m30.118s 2. LMP1 Collard/Tinseau/Jousse Pescarolo-Judd 1m30.317s 3. LMP1 Belicchi/Boullion Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m30.592s 4. LMP2 Ojjeh/Lombard/Kimber-Smith Greaves Zytek-Nissan 1m31.800s 5. LMP2 Leventis/Watts/Kane Strakka HPD 1m32.072s 6. LMP2 Beche/Thiriet/Firth TDS ORECA-Nissan 1m32.347s 7. LMP2 Kraihamer/Ebbesvik Boutsen Energy ORECA-Nissan 1m32.695s 8. LMP2 Frey/Meichtry/Hirschi Race Performance ORECA-Judd 1m33.286s 9. LMP2 Perez Companc/Russo/Kaffer Pecom Lola-Judd 1m33.525s 10. LMP2 Gates/Garofall/Hughes RLR MG Lola-Judd 1m34.066s 11. LMP2 Rosier/Mello-Breyner/Mello-Breyner Extreme Limite Norma-Judd 1m34.168s 12. FLM Hartshorne/Graves/Kapadia Neil Garner 1m36.044s 13. FLM Kutemann/Marroc JMB FLM 1m36.480s 14. FLM Schultis/Simon/Schell Pegasus FLM 1m37.474s 15. GTE-P Bell/Walker JMW Ferrari 1m39.176s 16. GTE-P Fisichella/Bruni AF Corse Ferrari 1m39.233s 17. GTE-P Lieb/Lietz Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 1m39.374s 18. GTE-P Goossens/Holzer Prospeed Porsche 1m39.526s 19. GTE-P Farnbacher/Simonsen Farnbacher Ferrari 1m39.749s 20. GTE-P Pilet/Henzler IMSA Performance Porsche 1m39.964s 21. GTE-A Armindo/Narac IMSA Performance Porsche 1m40.014s 22. GTE-P Melo/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 1m40.390s 23. GTE-P Dolan/Hancock Jota Aston Martin 1m40.417s 24. GTE-A Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret AF Corse Ferrari 1m40.558s 25. GTE-P Ayari/Rodrigues/Ballay JMB Ferrari 1m40.746s 26. GTE-A Hummel/Christodoulou/Quaife CRS Ferrari 1m40.777s 27. GTE-A Ried/Felbermayr Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 1m42.107s
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