Imola ELMS: Oliver Turvey takes another pole for Jota

The McLaren Formula 1 test and development driver, who has joined the Jota Sport Zytek LMP2 squad for this season, topped the times by more than half a second to follow up on his pole at the Silverstone season opener last month.

His 1m34.343s pole lap aboard the Jota Zytek-Nissan Z11SN he shares with Simon Dolan compared with the 1m34.914s set by Mathias Beche in the TDS Racing ORECA-Nissan 03.

Turvey, who won the rain-affected Silverstone race with Dolan, said: "We found a good balance yesterday, so I was able to push hard and get the most out of the tyres straight away."

Brendon Hartley was third fastest in the Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan with a time a tenth of a second slower than Beche.

The GTE class was headed by Matt Griffin, who took the second pole for the new Ram Racing Ferrari team with a 1m41.994s lap.

The Irishman bounced back from a spin at Rivazza on what would have been his fastest lap aboard his Ferrari 458 Italia to snatch pole from Imsa Porsche driver Patrick Long by five hundredths of a second.

Griffin, who is sharing with Silverstone pole winner Johnny Mowlem, said: "If I hadn't got pole I wouldn't have heard the last of it from the lads and it wouldn't have been right if a Ferrari wasn't on pole at home in Imola."

Pole in LMPC went to Gary Hirsch in one of the three ORECA-run Team Endurance Challenge cars, while honours in the GTC class for GT3 went to Peter Kox driving a Lamborghini Gallardo entered under his own name.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                          Team/Car                    Time       Cl gap
 1.  P2   Dolan/Turvey                     Jota Zytek-Nissan           1m34.343s
 2.  P2   Thiriet/Beche                    TDS ORECA-Nissan            1m34.914s  + 0.571s
 3.  P2   Hartley/Patterson                Murphy ORECA-Nissan         1m34.951s  + 0.608s
 4.  P2   Ragues/Panciatici                Signatech Alpine-Nissan     1m35.538s  + 1.195s
 5.  P2   Heinemeier Hansson/Kimber-Smith  Greaves Zytek-Nissan        1m35.606s  + 1.263s
 6.  P2   Gachnang/Mailleux                Morand Morgan-Judd          1m36.320s  + 1.977s
 7.  P2   Frey/Niederhauser                Race Peformance ORECA-Judd  1m36.444s  + 2.101s
 8.  P2   Burgess/Hirschi                  HVM Status Lola-Judd        1m37.309s  + 2.966s
 9.  P2   Briere/Dagoneau/Hartshorne       Boutsen ORECA-Nissan        1m38.128s  + 3.785s
10.  PC   Chatin/Hirsch                    Endurance FLM               1m39.222s  PC pole
11.  P2   Porta/Brandela/Delhez            DKR Lola-Judd               1m41.445s  + 7.102s
12.  PC   Loan/Lecuyer                     Endurance FLM               1m41.708s  + 2.486s
13.  GTE  Mowlem/Griffin                   Ram Ferrari                 1m41.994s  GTE pole
14.  GTE  Milesi/Long                      IMSA Porsche                1m42.055s  + 0.061s
15.  PC   Pons/Ayari                       Endurance FLM               1m42.093s  + 2.871s
16.  GTE  Jeannette/Montecalvo             Ram Ferrari                 1m42.669s  + 0.675s
17.  GTE  Bertolini/Camathias              JMW Ferrari                 1m42.911s  + 0.917s
18.  GTE  Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank         AF Ferrari                  1m43.551s  + 1.557s
19.  GTC  Kox/Pronk                        Kox Lamborghini             1m43.752s  GTC pole
20.  GTC  Rizzoli/Gai/Case                 AF Ferrari                  1m44.235s  + 0.483s
21.  GTE  Perazzini/Cioci/Leo              AF Ferrari                  1m44.478s  + 2.484s
22.  GTE  Ried/Roda/Ruberti                Proton Porsche              1m45.173s  + 3.179s
23.  GTC  Bader/Derdaele/Giermaziak        Megatron Audi               1m45.786s  + 2.034s
24.  GTC  Millroy/Smith/Twyman             Ecosse BMW                  1m45.831s  + 2.079s
25.  GTC  Babini/Shaitar/Ladygin           SMP Ferrari                 1m46.149s  + 2.397s
26.  GTE  Perrodo/Crubile                  Prospeed Porsche            1m46.358s  + 4.364s
27.  GTC  Markozov/Evstigneev/Frolov       SMP Ferrari                 1m49.733s  + 5.981s
28.  GTC  Mediani/Zlobin/Rotenberg         SMP Ferrrari