Sarrazin secures Silverstone pole
Peugeot's Stephane Sarrazin came out on top after a cracking battle for pole position for the Autosport 1000km at Silverstone with his championship-chasing teammate Nicolas Minassian
Sarrazin only secured the top spot in the dying moments of the 20-minute session, having watched Minassian better his time with five minutes to go.
Minassian's session was frantic. Having collided with the LMP2 Speedy Lola at Vale early on, the Frenchman who leads the championship with co-driver Marc Gene was forced to pit before coming out late for another stab at pole.
Allan McNish took a brilliant third for Audi. The Scot was just 0.6 seconds behind the French diesels in his R10 TDI - much closer than the German machines have been all through the Le Mans Series season in terms of pace.
For much of the session the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning No.1 diesel-powered machine was on pole, but could not quite live with the Peugeots in the final reckoning.
Alexandre Premat was fourth fastest in the No.2 Audi. The Frenchman, along with co-driver Mike Rockenfeller, is only two points behind Minassian and Gene in the drivers' championship, and though logic would suggest that the 908 HDi FAP will be too fast for the Audis in the dry on Sunday, rain could easily change all that.
The Charouz Racing Aston Martin-powered Lola was the fastest petrol-powered LMP1 with Stefan Mucke at the wheel.
Nicolas Lapierre was sixth for Oreca, while the Epsilon Euskadi team continued its impressive form with Adrian Valles lining up seventh in the Spanish coupe.
Jos Verstappen made up for his damaging spin yesterday by putting the Van Merksteijn Porsche on the LMP2 pole.
The Dutchman, on his first visit to Silverstone since he competed for Minardi in Formula One in 2003, set a lap of 1:34.212 - more than 1.2 seconds faster than the next man in class, Barazi's Michael Vergers.
Despite the collision early in the session with the Peugeot, Xavier Pompidou put the Speedy Lola coupe third in class.
Peter Kox gave the Spartak Lamborghini team their first pole position in the GT1 category having lapped the Murcielago half a second faster than Tomas Enge in the Team Modena Aston Martin.
"We have worked hard with our tyre partner Michelin, and this has been coming for a while," said Kox. "The car has had the potential for a while. I just hope we can continue in the same way tomorrow."
Guillaume Moreau was third quickest in the Luc Alphand Corvette, while Darren Turner, who has been drafted in to the Strakka Aston Martin team, was fourth.
Rob Bell, in search of a second successive GT2 championship title, took pole position in the category with the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari.
Richard Lietz was second fastest in the IMSA Performamce Porsche with Dirk Werner third in the Farnbacher Racing 997 GT3 RSR.
Pos Driver Car Time LMP1 1. Lamy/Sarrazin Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 1:30.359 2. Gene/Minassian Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 1:30.370 3. Capello/Mcnish Audi R10 TDI 1:31.020 4. Premat/Rockenfeller Audi R10 TDI 1:32.122 5. Mucke/Charouz Lola Aston Martin 1:33.229 6. Panis/Lapierre Courage-Oreca Judd 1:33.324 7. Nakano/Valles Epsilon Euskadi Judd 1:34.173 8. Dumas/Boullion Pescarolo Judd 1:34.878 9. Simpson/Lewis Creation Aim 1:35.103 10. Ortelli/Ayari Courage-Oreca Judd 1:35.266 11. Campbell-Walter/Hall Creation Aim 1:36.032 12. Primat/Tinseau Pescarolo Judd 1:36.822 13. Barbosa/Ickx/Hollings Pescarolo Judd 1:37.443 14. Nicolet/Hein Pescarolo Judd 1:39.939 LMP2 1. Van Merksteijn/Verstappen Porsche RS Spyder 1:34.212 2. Barazi/Vergers/Rees Zytek 07S 1:35.378 3. Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia Lola Judd 1:35.907 4. Amaral/Pla Lola AER 1:35.998 5. Elgaard/Nielsen Porsche RS Spyder 1:36.282 6. Lienhard/Theys/Lammers Porsche RS Spyder 1:36.338 7. Manning/Foster WF01 Zytek 1:36.768 8. Hughes/Kane WF01 Zytek 1:36.920 9. Ojjeh/Gosselin/Sharpe Zytek 07S 1:37.277 10. Erdos/Newton Lola MG 1:37.753 11. Ragues/Lahaye Pescarolo Judd 1:38.282 12. De Pourtales/Noda Lola Mazda 1:38.487 13. Salini/Salini/Gommendy WR Zytek 1:40.737 14. Rostan/Petersen/Lueders Radical AER 1:41.073 GT1 1. Rusinov/Kox Lamborghini 1:45.327 2. Garcia/Enge Aston Martin DBR9 1:45.899 3. Goueslard/Moreau Corvette C6.R 1:45.987 4. Hardman/Leventis/Turner Aston Martin DBR9 1:46.041 GT2 1. Bell/Melo Ferrari F430 GT 1:48.960 2. Narac/Lietz Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:49.852 3. Nielsen/Werner Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:50.493 4. Lieb/Davison Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:50.837 5. Aucott/Daoudi Ferrari F430 GT 1:51.603 6. Coronel/Kelleners/Vasiliev Spyker C8 Laviolette 1:51.686 7. Daniels/Bamford/Griffin Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:52.364 8. Balandras/Lecourt Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:52.436 9. Ehret/Kaffer/Beltoise Ferrari F430 GT 1:53.094 10. Chiesa/Leuenberger Spyker C8 Laviolette 1:53.142 11. Ried/Felbermayr/Felbermayr Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:53.562 12. Kutemann/Basso/Gilbert Ferrari F430 GT 1:53.931 13. Van Der Merwe/Sugden/Outzen Aston Martin Vantage 1:56.550
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