Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Bernhard gives Audi pole at Spa

Timo Bernhard gave Audi's new R18 TDI pole position for its race debut at the Spa 1000km, the second round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup

Bernhard's lap of 2m01.502s was set early in the session and gave the German the top top spot by 0.286s ahead of Andre Lotterer. It was an all-Audi top three as Tom Kristensen qualified third.

As planned, none of the factory Peugeots took to the track until late on, but all three were caught out as Matthieu Lahaye crashed his Oak Pescarolo on the straight before Pouhon.

The high-speed impact caused heavy damage to the front end of the car and brought out the red flags. With the crash barrier in question significantly damaged and no chance of repairing quickly, a decision was taken to end the session while six minutes remained on the clock.

This ensured that Marc Gene was unable to improve on his 13th spot on the grid, and left him as the best of the factory Peugeot drivers. Simon Pagenaud was only 18th while Stephane Sarrazin did not complete a flying lap and will start 50th.

The early stoppage was good news for Nicolas Lapierre, who put his ORECA Peugeot fourth, ahead of Nicolas Prost's Rebellion Lola, the best-placed petrol-powered car.

Danny Watts secured pole in the LMP2 class in his Strakka HPD with a flying lap that was just 0.1s quicker than Mathias Beche's TDS ORECA.

Jaime Melo took pole in the GT2 Pro category in the AF Corse Ferrari he shares with Toni Vilander, his best effort coming six minutes from the end of the session.

Rob Bell and Giancarlo Fisichella made it an all-Ferrari top three with British driver Bell 0.2s off Melo's pace in his JMW-run 458 and grand prix winner Fisichella next up in the second AF Corse car.

Marc Lieb put the best of the Porsches - the Felbermayr car - fourth while Augusto Farfus was BMW's fastest driver in fifth. Andy Priaulx was seventh quickest in the sister M3, but spun at the Bus Stop chicane on his final flying lap.

Pole in GT2 Am went to Nicolas Armindo's IMSA Porsche - ahead of four of the Pro cars, while Brit Phil Keen was the fastest driver in the Formula Le Mans class in the Neil Garner Motorsport ORECA.

Pos  Cl     Drivers                       Team/Car                     Time
 1.  LMP1   Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller   Audi R18 TDI                 2m01.502s
 2.  LMP1   Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer     Audi R18 TDI                 2m01.788s
 3.  LMP1   Capello/Kristensen/McNish     Audi R18 TDI                 2m02.145s
 4.  LMP1   Lapierre/Duval/Panis          ORECA Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP    2m05.482s
 5.  LMP1   Jani/Prost                    Rebellion Lola-Toyota        2m06.767s
 6.  LMP1   Amaral/Pla                    Quifel-ASM Zytek             2m07.290s
 7.  LMP1   Collard/Tinseau/Jousse        Pescarolo-Judd               2m07.528s
 8.  LMP1   Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues          Oak Pescarolo-Judd           2m07.729s
 9.  LMP1   Cortes/Geri/Piccini           MIK Corse Zytek-Hybrid       2m08.821s
10.  LMP2   Leventis/Watts/Kane           Strakka HPD ARX-01d          2m10.016s
11.  LMP2   Beche/Thiriet/Firth           TDS ORECA-Nissan             2m10.141s
12.  LMP2   Mailleux/Ordonez/Ayari        Signatech ORECA-Nissan       2m10.474s
13.  LMP1   Gene/Wurz/Davidson            Peugeot 908                  2m10.725s
14.  LMP2   Kraihamer/de Crem             Boutsen Energy ORECA-Nissan  2m11.183s
15.  LMP2   Ojjeh/Chalandon/Kimber-Smith  Greaves Zytek-Nissan         2m11.218s
16.  LMP2   Frey/Meichtry/Rostan          Race Performance ORECA-Judd  2m11.306s
17.  LMP2   Rosier/Luco/Basso             Extreme Limite Norma-Judd    2m11.842s
18.  LMP1   Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud        Peugeot 908                  2m12.108s
19.  LMP2   Barlesi/De Roche/Lafargue     Oak Pescarolo-Judd           2m12.373s
20.  LMP2   Perez Companc/Russo/Kaffer    Pecom Lola-Judd              2m13.584s
21.  FLM    Hartshorne/Keating/Keen       Neil Garner ORECA            2m13.592s
22.  LMP2   Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa        Level 5 Lola Coupe-HPD       2m13.851s
23.  LMP2   Gates/Garofall/Philipps       RLR MG Lola                  2m14.122s
24.  FLM    Moro/Marroc/Zheng             Hope ORECA                   2m14.431s
25.  FLM    Rodrigues/Menahem/Misslin     JMB ORECA                    2m17.120s
26.  FLM    Julian/Zugel/Petersen         Genoa ORECA                  2m18.219s
27.  FLM    Schultis/Simon/Schell         Pegasus ORECA                2m18.757s
28.  GTE P  Melo/Vilander                 AF Corse Ferrari             2m20.743s
29.  GTE P  Bell/Walker                   JMW Ferrari                  2m20.915s
30.  GTE P  Fisichella/Bruni              AF Corse Ferrari             2m21.086s
31.  GTE P  Lieb/Lietz                    Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    2m21.291s
32.  GTE P  Farfus/Muller                 BMW M3                       2m21.460s
33.  GTE P  Farnbacher/Simonsen           Farnbacher Ferrari           2m21.779s
34.  GTE P  Priaulx/Alzen                 BMW M3                       2m22.219s
35.  GTE P  Pilet/Henzler                 IMSA Performance Porsche     2m22.955s
36.  GTE A  Armindo/Narac                 IMSA Performance Porsche     2m23.007s
37.  GTE P  Beltoise/Jakubowski/Deletraz  Luxury Racing Ferrari        2m23.063s
38.  GTE A  Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret       AF Corse Ferrari             2m23.269s
39.  GTE A  Christodoulou/Hummel/Quaife   CRS Ferrari                  2m23.485s
40.  GTE P  Goossens/Holzer               Prospeed Porsche             2m23.639s
41.  GTE A  Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright      Gulf Aston Martin            2m23.727s
42.  GTE A  Broniszewski/Peter            Kessel Ferrari               2m24.050s
43.  GTE A  Felbermayr Jr/Miller          Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    2m24.599s
44.  GTE A  Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel       Larbre Porsche               2m24.773s
45.  GTE P  Hirschi/Rossiter/Mowlem       Jetalliance Lotus Evora      2m25.124s
46.  GTE A  Ehret/Lynn/Wills              CRS Ferrari                  2m25.617s
47.  GTE A  Ried/Hammerson                Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    2m26.797s
48.  GTE P  Ortelli/Makowiecki            Luxury Racing Ferrari        2m27.098s
49.  GTE A  Krohn/Jonsson                 Krohn Ferrari                2m28.677s
50.  LMP1   Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian   Peugeot 908                    no time
51.  LMP1   Belicchi/Boullion             Rebellion Lola-Toyota          no time
52.  GTE P  Dolan/Hancock                 Jota Aston Martin              no time
53.  GTE A  Kauffman/Aguas                AF Corse Ferrari               no time
54.  GTE P  Rich/Slingerland              Jetalliance Lotus Evora        no time

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Audi stays on top in final practice
Next article Rockenfeller: Traffic key to race

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe