Terrien claims pole on home territory

Although Terrien's pole was never threatened, there was a furious battle for the other front spots on the grid. Lavaggi and Filiberti in the GLV Brums Ferrari 333 SP, John Nielsen in the newly Michelin-shod Panoz LMP and Werner Lupberger in the Ascari exchanged fastest laps throughout the allocated time. At the end of the session, Mauro Baldi joined in, at the wheel of the in the R&M Riley & Scott, grabbing the coveted second place with a lap of 1:30.481.

Nielsen will start from third place with the Panoz, with the Ascari fourth. Fifth place went to last year's winner, the GLV Brums Ferrari. "We brought Lavaggi in when he was second, but by the time he got to the pits, he'd already dropped down to fourth," GLV's team manager Achim Stroth commented. "If we'd left him out, I'm sure he would have found the extra tenth to get back up." Filiberti is confident of a good race tomorrow : "I think we can finish on the podium - the car was a bit unstable early on , but it improved a lot between free practice and qualifying. I really like the circuit - it's my first visit here, but I quickly got up to speed."

The Sports Racing Lights pole went once more to Fillipo Francioni, driving the Lucchini SR2 which he shares with Salvatore Ronca. The overall winners of the Spa round were half a second faster than Henderson and Mildenhall in the Nissan-engined Pilbeam, with Nobili and Monti's Tampolli third. "I am really happy to be on pole again," Francioni said. "We had a little problem with oversteer - we were half a second faster in the second free practice."

There were problems for the Harrier, which caught stopped with engine failure in the morning practice session, with Dino Morelli at the wheel. The car then caught fire, most probably due to the alternator. "The team are working really hard to get it back together for tomorrow," Ben Collins said.

Danish former F3000 driver Jason Watt started off well in the second Panoz LMP, setting the fifth time in the second practice session. However, a problem in his specially adapted hand controls means that he will not be able to race, as the system cannot be repaired at the track.

The two and a half hour race will start tomorrow at 13:00. After an especially wet season, it is hoped that the track will remain dry. "Good weather at Magny Cours is unusual," Terrien said. "But our car is very quick in the dry, and we really want it to stay dry for the race."



Ps.No. Driver , Car Lap Time K.P.H.
-- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- -------- -------
1 1 Pescatori/Terrien JB Giesse Ferrari 333SP 1:29.449 182.477
2 5 Baldi/Chiesa R&M R&S Judd 1:30.481 180.396
3 8 Nielsen/Elgard DenBlaAvis Panoz Spyder LMP 1:30.596 180.167
4 17 Zwart/Lupberger Ascari Ascari A410 Judd 1:30.669 180.022
5 3 Lavaggi/Filiberti GLV Brums Ferrari 333SP 1:30.797 179.768
6 23 Zadra/Peter BMS Ferrari 333SP 1:31.357 178.666
7 22 Calderari/Bryner/Zadra BMS Ferrari 333SP 1:32.167 177.096
8 21 de Lorenzi/Ayari Durango GMS LMP1 Mader 1:32.375 176.697
9 16 Caffi/Tedeschi Conrero Riley&Scott 1:33.993 173.656
10 28 Giraudi/Lancelotti Tampolli Ferrari 333SP 1:34.272 173.142
11 26 Gabbiani/Ortiz Conrero Riley&Scott 1:34.937 171.929
12 9 Ree/Elgard/Watt DenBlaAvis Panoz Spyder LMP 1:38.944 164.966

Sports Racing Lights

1 60 Ronca/Francioni Lucchini Luchini SR2 1:35.445 171.014
2 58 Henderson/Mildenhall EBRT Pilbeam MP84 1:35.998 170.029
3 59 Nobili/Monti BM Tampolli RS2 1:36.788 168.641
4 67 Lanfermann/Lyons/Grant Schroder Pilbeam MP84 1:36.792 168.634
5 75 Millard/Flux Sovereign Rapier 6 Nissan 1:37.380 167.616
6 63 Owen/Smithson Redman Br. Pilbeam MP84 1:37.442 167.509
7 66 Saccomanno/Corradi Audisio Luchini 99 1:38.209 166.201
8 72 Randaccio/Perazza SCI Lucchini AF 1:38.406 165.868
9 57 Giudici/Raimondi Giudici Picchio BMW 1:39.823 163.513
10 99 Bruneau/Rostan Bruneau Debora BMW 1:40.101 163.059
11 52 Maddalena/Linos Tampolli Tampolli RS2 1:40.470 162.460
12 54 Prospero/Peroni GPM Picchio BMW 1:40.768 161.980
13 70 Fabre/Goudy/Bonnet Bonnet Debora BMW 1:40.980 161.640