Roda Delivers United Pole for Sepang Season Opener

Photo: Asian Le Mans Series

Giorgio Roda scored pole for Saturday’s opening round of the new Asian Le Mans Series season at Sepang in his first outing with United Autosports.

The Bronze-rated Italian driver set the fastest time of the 15-minute LMP2 session on a rapidly drying track following earlier rain, logging a 1:55.614 in the No. 5 Oreca 07 Gibson he shares with Mikkel Jensen and Gregoire Saucy.

That effort put Roda almost six tenths clear of nearest rival Jens Reno Moller aboard the No. 49 High Class Racing Oreca.

However, Moller was able to score pole for Sunday’s second leg of the 4 Hours of Sepang courtesy of his second best-time of 1:56.262, just 0.060 seconds slower than his best.

Third overall on a 1:56.382 was the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition of Georgios Kolovos, who edged out Roda for second on the race two grid by a tenth and a half.

Fourth on the grid for the opening race was the best of the three Algarve Pro Racing entries, the No. 20 car of John Falb, followed by last-minute replacement and LMP2 debutant Bernardo Sousa at the wheel of the No. 22 Proton Competition entry.

However, on second-best times, the order is somewhat different behind the top three.

Alexander Mattschull, sixth overall in the DKR Engineering Oreca, will start fourth on the strength of his second-best lap, while Cetilar Racing’s Roberto Lacorte, seventh overall, grabbed fifth on second-best times ahead of Falb and Sousa.

Defending LMP2 champion Michael Jensen was only 14th-fastest of an expanded 16-car field overall and slowest on second-best times in the No. 25 Algarve Pro entry.

Double Class Poles for CLX Motorsport, JMR

CLX Motorsport took a double pole in the LMP3 class courtesy of defending European Le Mans Series LMP3 champion Paul Lanchere.

Sticking to wet tires on a drying track, Lanchere posted two times good enough for the top spot, with a best of 2:12.401 and a second-best of 2:12.580 aboard the No. 17 Ligier JS P235 Toyota, beating the No. 8 Team Virage Ligier of Romain Vozniak.

Both Ligiers belonging to Team Virage secured second and third on the grid for both races, with Vozniak leading Julien Gerbi in the sister No. 1 car.

A red flag was caused early in the LMP3 session due to Alexander Bukhantsov beaching the No. 13 Inter Europol Ligier in the gravel.

Yasser Shahin bagged pole in the GT class for both races driving the No. 66 JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R after a mid-session change from slicks to wets.

The Australian’s best time of 2:19.236 in mixed conditions proved to be the best of the session, while a second-best effort of 2:20.093 secured the Corvette that he shares with Alexander Sims and Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim pole for Sunday’s second race.

Securing second on the grid for both races was the No. 37 QMMF by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi with a best time of 2:19.467, while ‘Bankcy’ took third for both races in the No. 77 Proton Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The opening leg of the 4H Sepang begins at 1 p.m. local time (12 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Qualifying

Source: Sports Car 365