Qualifying: Dome takes maiden pole at Spa
The new Japanese Dome chassis scored its first ever pole position as John Nielsen topped the times in qualifying for Sunday's third round of the FIA Sportscar Championship at Spa-Francorchamps
The Dane's slippery, Judd-powered Dome S101 continued the marque's rich vein of form following on from their impressive performance at last weekend's Le Mans test day, where Jan Lammers' similar Racing for Holland car set the fourth fastest time overall.
Nielsen's time of 2m10.706s was just enough to keep it ahead of the back-on-form Riley & Scott-Judd of Mauro Baldi and Alex Caffi, despite the Japanese design still running with its low-downforce Le Mans aerodynamic set up.
Lammers' car was only able to capture sixth overall as the Dome's settings suited Nielsen's Goodyear tyres, but struggled to balance with Lammers' Avon rubber.
The fastest time of all had been set by the Monza 1000Km-winning Ferrari chassis of Italian Giovanni Lavaggi, but the GLV Racing-run car fell foul of post-qualifying scrutineering, where it was found underweight and banished to the back of the grid for Sunday's two and a half-hour race.
Filling the second row where the pair of BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SPs, with Marco Zadra leading the way in the number one car, which he shares for the first time this weekend with French ace Jean-Marc Gounon. The works Ascari, also impressive in the Le Mans tests, was limited to sixth on the grid after Werner Lupberger had to pull up half-way through the session with a mechanical problem.
In the SR2 class, former British F3 star Martin O'Connell overcame the effects of a fever to snatch the Rowan Racing Pilbeam team's first ever sportscar pole position. The Walsall man eclipsed the time of Italian Massimo Monti (BM Autosport Tampolli) by 0.325s, while the Swedish Racing Team's Lola could only manage third place in Thed Bjork's hands.
"Taking pole gives everyone a nice boost, but it really means nothing before a two and a half hour-race," said O'Connell. "It is very close between the top three SRII cars, and I expect a really tight battle tomorrow."
Nielsen/Katoh RN Motorsport Dome-Judd S101 2m10.706s
Baldi/Caffi R&M Riley & Scott MkIII 2m10.788s
Gounon/Zadra M BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SP 2m11.438s
Calderari/Bryner/Zadra A BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SP 2m11.784s
Lupberger/Collins Team Ascari Ascari-Judd A410 2m12.170s
Lammers/Hillebrand Racing for Holland Dome-Judd S101 2m14.466s
Smithson/Owen Redman Bright Reynard-Judd 01Q 2m14.719s
De Radigues/Hancock Kremer Lola-Ford B98/K2001 no time set*
Lavaggi/Vann GLV Ferrari-Judd 333SP 2m08.450s*
* will start from the back of the grid
O'Connell/Carway Rowan Pilbeam-Nissan MP84 2m18.399s
Monti/Nobili BM Autosport Tampolli-Alfa RTA99 2m18.724s
Bjork/Oberto/Goddard Swedish Racing Team Lola-Nissan B2K/40 2m19.488s
Francioni/Raimondi Lucchini Engineering Lucchini-Alfa 2001 2m20.975s
Randaccio/Maddalena SCI Lucchini-Alfa 99 2m24.449s
Wiseman/Mallock Swara Pilbeam-Nissan MP84 2m24.672s
Ranking Lewis Hamilton's 10 F1 seasons with Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton’s decade at Mercedes has been one of remarkable success not seen before in Formula 1.
Dennis singles out Jaguar as Porsche's biggest Formula E threat
Jake Dennis says Porsche cannot let off its development of its Gen3 Formula E powertrain, and singled out Jaguar as a threat to the German manufacturer in the coming rounds.
Verstappen buoyed by new handling characteristics of 2023 F1 tyres
Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is hopeful the new Pirelli tyres will help further dial out the inherent understeer of the current generation of cars.
Pastrana adds NASCAR Truck Series race to Daytona programme
Travis Pastrana has added the season-opening NASCAR Truck Series race to his appearance at Daytona International Speedway this month.
The F1 technology behind Mercedes’ Nordschleife record hypercar
It’s taken over half a decade of development but now the Mercedes-AMG One is here – boasting 1048bhp from a Formula 1-based hybrid powertrain and smashing the Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record for a production car with Maro Engel at the wheel last month. ROBERT HOLMES wonders if it can now claim to be the ultimate hypercar...
How to get the best out of amateur racers
Pro-Am GT racing is booming. But how should drivers approach working with an amateur? Autosport sought out a panel of experts to explain the pitfalls amateur drivers should avoid and how professionals can help them to achieve their goals
The remarkable career of a 'classy' champion who rejected politics
Over two decades as a factory driver with Audi and BMW, Martin Tomczyk earned the respect of team-mates and rivals as a hard but fair racer. After calling time on his racing career, the 2011 DTM champion sat down with Autosport to look back
The ex-IndyCar racer in "uncharted territory" of British GT team ownership
This weekend’s British GT finale will be a tense title showdown for some but, for those not in the championship fight, it’s a chance to end a challenging year on a high. In the latter camp is Paddock Motorsport's team owner Martin Plowman, whose 2021 season has been a rollercoaster ride of non-stop learning
The unpopular BMW stalwart built for the big occasion
It has won most of the big prizes in endurance racing across its six years in service, but the BMW M6 GT3's key weaknesses meant only a devoted few teams persisted with running it. As it prepares to bow out at season's end, the teams and drivers involved in its story share the secrets of an unpopular winner
The unwanted GT car that changed sportscar racing forever
Had FIA GT boss Stephane Ratel had his way, the Maserati MC12 would never have been allowed to set foot in his series. It duly proved the class of the field that most had expected, but the Balance of Performance that its superiority spawned would keep GT1 battles tight and bring long-term benefits that sportscar racing enjoys today
Why Britain's greatest sportscar was eclipsed on the world stage
The E-Type may be the most famous of all road-going Jaguars, but that didn't always translate into success on the track. After winning on its competition debut in 1961, motorsport success seemed an inevitability, but things didn’t turn out to be quite that straightforward
Why the Jaguar E-type remains special at 60
It’s 60 years since the Jaguar E-type arrived and caused a sensation. As our resident racer Ben Anderson discovered when he got behind the wheel of two special racing versions at Brands Hatch, the thrill of driving them hasn't diminished over time
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.