Ortelli sets GT pole at Oschersleben

1998 Le Mans winner Stéphane Ortelli, driving the #5 Eschmann Porsche 911 GT2, will start from the front for tomorrow's 500km race at Oschersleben.

During the wet morning session former F1 Sauber driver Karl Wendlinger set the fastest time, followed by Ortelli and Belloc.

The weather at the German circuit improved by the afternoon, and all the competitors improved their lap times.

Ortelli's lap of 1:26.457 had initially only been good enough for second place.

After the 45 minutes of the second qualifying session, Emmanuel Clérico had taken pole for Paul Belmondo Racing.

However, an infringement of the technical regulations, which state that the car must not touch the ground when both of the tyres on one side are deflated, meant that Clerico's times were annulled, and their Chrysler Viper will have to start from the back of the grid.

'There will be other poles,' said a disappointed but philosophical Clerico.

Ortelli, driving with Sascha Maassen and Paul Hulverscheid, will start alongside Championship leaders Beretta and Wendlinger, who were hampered by their 100kg penalty weight.

'It's a good position - we can win from there!' Beretta said.

They head a group of Vipers, with the GL PK Racing Viper third ahead of the two Chamberlain Motorsport cars.

The Konrad Motorsport Porsche was sixth after briefly leading the times - a collision with a slower Porsche prevented Wollek and Konrad from further improving their times.

The second Oreca Viper will start from seventh, after a water leak kept Jean-Philippe Belloc in the pits for much of the session.

Guest driver Jean-Marc Gounon was frustrated after a gear-box problem prevented him from fighting for the pole.

With German driver Steffen Widmann, the SportsRacing World Cup double race winner will start from ninth position.

'It's infuriating - I can really feel this car's potential,' he said.