Jani gives Rebellion Ricard LMS pole
Rebellion Racing driver Neel Jani took pole position for the opening round of the Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard
The Swiss driver set a best time of 1m46.783s in Rebellion's lead Lola-Toyota LMP1 coupe to edge out former LMS champion Emmanuel Collard, driving for the re-formed Pescarolo team. Jani was less than three tenths of a second ahead of Collard in the Judd-powered Pescarolo and a further two tenths ahead of the ASM Zytek driven by Olivier Pla.
Jani, who is paired with Nicolas Prost, said: "It is a good start, but it is very close. The Pescarolo and the Zytek are close to us, closer than I expected."
The Aston Martin AMR-One, which is making its race debut at Paul Ricard this weekend, ended up only 11th quickest in the hands of Stefan Mucke. The German's time of 1m52.267s left him behind six LMP2 entrants.
TDS Racing claimed P2 honours with Mathias Beche. His time of 1m48.928s in the French team's ORECA-Nissan was nearly a second clear of Dominik Kraihamer in Boutsen Energy Racing's similar car.
Gianmaria Bruni took pole in the GTE class (formerly GT2) for the AF Corse Ferrari team. The Italian's time of 1m58.522s in the new 458 Italia was two tenths quicker than Tomas Enge aboard Young Driver AMR's Aston Martin Vantage GT2.
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time 1. LMP1 Jani/Prost Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m46.783s 2. LMP1 Collard/Tinseau/Jousse Pescarolo-Judd 1m47.025s 3. LMP1 Amaral/Pla Quifel-ASM Zytek 1m47.231s 4. LMP1 Belicchi/Boullion Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m48.491s 5. LMP2 Beche/Thiriet/Firth TDS ORECA-Nissan 1m48.928s 6. LMP2 Kraihamer/de Crem Boutsen Energy ORECA-Nissan 1m49.692s 7. LMP2 Ojjeh/Chalandon/Kimber-Smith Greaves Zytek-Nissan 1m50.008s 8. LMP2 Frey/Meichtry/Ebbesvik Race Performance ORECA-Judd 1m50.356s 9. LMP2 Perez Companc/Russo/Kaffer Pecom Lola-Judd 1m51.744s 10. LMP2 Rosier/Luco/Basso Extreme Limite Norma-Judd 1m52.158s 11. LMP1 Mucke/Primat/Turner Aston Martin 1m52.267s 12. LMP2 Gates/Garofall/Philipps RLR MG Lola 1m53.414s 13. LMP2 Leventis/Watts/Kane Strakka HPD 1m53.582s 14. FLM Moro/Marroc/Shanqi Hope ORECA 1m53.659s 15. FLM Julian/Zugel/Petersen Genoa ORECA 1m54.044s 16. FLM Hartshorne/Keating/Keen Neil Garner ORECA 1m54.081s 17. FLM Schultis/Simon/JSchell Pegasus ORECA 1m55.829s 18. FLM Rodrigues/Menahem/Misslin JMB ORECA 1m56.806s 19. GTE P Fisichella/Bruni AF Corse Ferrari 1m58.522s 20. GTE P Enge/Muller/Nygaard Young Driver Aston Martin 1m58.773s 21. GTE P Bell/Walker JMW Ferrari 1m59.119s 22. GTE P Melo/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 1m59.144s 23. GTE P Farnbacher/Simonsen Farnbacher Ferrari 1m59.244s 24. GTE P Goossens/Holzer Prospeed Porsche 1m59.244s 25. GTE A Armindo/Narac IMSA Performance Porsche 1m59.370s 26. GTE P Lieb/Lietz Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 1m59.455s 27. GTE P Pilet/Henzler IMSA Performance Porsche 1m59.457s 28. GTE P Dolan/Hancock Jota Aston Martin 2m00.336s 29. GTE A Ried/Felbermayr/Felbermayr Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 2m00.354s 30. GTE A Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret AF Corse Ferrari 2m00.470s 31. GTE A Broniszewski/Peter Kessel Ferrari 2m00.698s 32. GTE A Christodoulou/Hummel/Quaife CRS Ferrari 2m01.137s 33. GTE A Kauffman/Aguas/Ciro AF Corse Ferrari 2m01.691s 34. LMP2 Erdos/Newton/Collins RML HPD
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