Masson Snares Imola Pole After Close Fight

Photo: Bruno Vandevelde/MPS Agency.

Esteban Masson continued his dominance of the European Le Mans Series’ Imola weekend after topping a very close qualifying session.

Masson had set the pace in both of the free practice sessions and again topped the timesheets in qualifying at the wheel of the No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca 07 Gibson.

However, the reigning ELMS champion endured a nervy conclusion to qualifying after Masson failed to improve on both of his final two laps and a whole host of rivals closed the gap.

In the end Masson’s 1:30.866 was good enough for top spot, but he was just 0.032 seconds faster than Ian Aguilera in the No. 17 CLX Motorsport entry.

Third fastest was Gregoire Saucy in the points-leading No. 22 United Autosports Oreca on a 1:30.928, which was less than a tenth quicker than Reshad De Gerus in fourth at the controls of the No. 34 Inter Europol Competition machine.

Fifth was Job van Uitert in the No. 28 IDEC Sport car on a 1:30.990, while Jack Doohan in the No. 24 Nielsen Racing Oreca ensured the top six was separated by just 0.362 seconds.

It was equally close in the Pro-Am class as Giorgio Roda picked up his second pole of the season at the wheel of the No. 30 Duqueine Team Oreca, after pipping Jean Glorieux in the No. 3 DKR Engineering entry by just seven thousandths of a second.

Glorieux was looking to further improve on his final lap but spun out of Rivazza and glanced the barriers, leaving championship leader Roda on pole with a 1:33.195.

Steven Thomas was just fractionally slower in the No. 14 TDS Racing Oreca to post a 1:33.251 to leave the top three separated by just 0.056 seconds.

Debutant Iglesias, McDonald’s Corvette Take Class Poles

Louis Iglesias completed an impressive first ELMS qualifying session by grabbing LMP3 pole after improving on his last attempt.

Iglesias in the No. 17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 Toyota was embroiled in a close battle for pole with the No. 85 R-ace GP Duqueine D09 Toyota of Pierre-Alexandre Provost and the No. 4 DKR Engineering Ligier of Wyatt Brichacek as they constantly traded times.

But it was the debutant who took the spoils by posting a 1:38.367 on his last lap to take pole by two tenths over Provost.

Brichacek did not improve on his last flier and therefore had to settle for third on a 1:39.207.

Lenny Ried in the No. 31 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier almost displaced Brichacek with a late improvement to fourth on a 1:39.322 while Matteo Quintarelli completed the top-five in the No. 8 Virage entry despite briefly coming to a stop at the start of the session.

The TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R also took a last-gasp pole in the LMGT3 division to narrowly beat the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that had topped both practice sessions.

Blake McDonald improved to a 1:42.339 on his final flying lap to defeat Clement Mateu’s Aston Martin by just a tenth of a second.

McDonald’s pace meant it was the first time this season that the No. 62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo missed out on pole with Abdulla Al-Khelaifi managing a 1:42.985 that was good enough for third.

This trio of cars were some distance ahead of the rest with Custodio Toledo in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo six tenths adrift of McDonald in fourth.

Late callup Martin Berry, on his first outing with the Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, ensured there were five different manufacturers in the top five after he was just four thousandths of a second slower than Toledo.

The 4 Hours of Imola contest is due to start at 12 p.m. CEST (6 a.m. EST) on Sunday.

RESULTS: Qualifying

Source: Sports Car 365