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Gary Watkins

Spa WEC: Pla secures maiden pole for Glickenhaus

The Frenchman posted a 2m02.771s aboard the solo Glickenhaus 007 LMH to claim the top spot by a couple of tenths from fellow countryman Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Alpine A480-Gibson.

The Glickenhaus and the Alpine, in which Vaxiviere recorded a 2m02.999s, outpaced the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids in the 10-minute prototype qualifying session.

Kamui Kobayashi’s best time of 2m03.087s just shaded Brendon Hartley’s 2m03.137s in the sister car as the two Toyotas took third and fourth positions.

The Glickenhaus and the Alpine both set their times on their first flying laps, while the two Toyota drivers were unable to post representative times when the Michelin tyres were at their best on the first lap.

Pla said: “I made a mistake at Turn 1 on the first flier: I braked a little bit late, missed the apex and had a bit of a moment on the exit, but the rest of the lap was quite good.

“Pole is great for the team: they have put a lot of effort into the programme with a low budget, people shouldn’t forget that.”

Watch the entire WEC Six Hours of Spa race live on Motorsport.tv (geo-restrictions may apply).

#83 AF Corse Oreca 07 - Gibson LMP2 : François Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen, Alessio Rovera (Photo by: Eric Le Galliot)

Alessio Rovera snatched LMP2 pole in the AF Corse team’s Pro/Am Oreca 07 right at the end of the of the session.

The Italian made a big improvement on his second set of Goodyear tyres to get down to a 2m04.246s, which was good enough to knock Robin Frijns in the fastest of the two WRT entries off the top spot.

A 2m04.290s from Frijns on his only flying lap was still good enough for the Dutchman to hang onto second position.

Filipe Albuquerque improved to third with a 2m04.451s in the best of the United Autosports Orecas on his second run. The late runs from Rovera and Albuquerque pushed Louis Deletraz in the Prema Oreca and Norman Nato in the second WRT car down to fourth and fifth respectively.

#91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR 19 LMGTE Pro of Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Gianmaria Bruni snatched pole position in GTE Pro, his first in the WEC since the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours, from Porsche teammate Michael Christensen on his final lap of qualifying.

The Italian got down to a 2m14.301s on his third flying lap to better the 2m14.481s Christensen set on his second lap.

Bruni’s final lap vaulted him from third position behind Nick Tandy’s Chevrolet Corvette C8.R onto the pole.

Tandy’s lost his first time lap to a track limits infraction and then posted a 2m14.606s on his third attempt.

Ferrari was closer to the pace than at the championship opener at Sebring in March, as Alessandro Pier Guidi took fourth position in the best of the AF Corse run 488 GTE Evos with a 2m15.102s, which was eight tenths off the ultimate pace.

Miguel Molina brought up the rear of the class with a time that was over a second shy of Bruni’s pole lap.

Ben Keating was on pole by a second and a half in GTE Am aboard his TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE. His 2m17.408s was set on his third lap, while Paul Dalla Lana got down to a 2m18.912s in the NorthWest AMR Vantage.

The Spa 6 Hours, round two of the 2022 WEC, begins at 13:00 local time in Belgium on Saturday.

WEC Spa 6 Hours - Qualifying results

Hypercar/LMP2:

Cla # Drivers Car Class Avg Time Gap
1 708 France Olivier Pla
France Romain Dumas
Brazil Pipo Derani
Glickenhaus 007 LMH HYPERCAR 2'02.771  
2 36 Brazil Andre Negrao
France Nicolas Lapierre
France Matthieu Vaxiviere
Alpine A480 HYPERCAR 2'02.999 0.228
3 7 United Kingdom Mike Conway
Japan Kamui Kobayashi
Argentina Jose Maria Lopez
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 2'03.087 0.316
4 8 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
New Zealand Brendon Hartley
Japan Ryo Hirakawa
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 2'03.137 0.366
5 83 France François Perrodo
Denmark Nicklas Nielsen
Italy Alessio Rovera
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.246 1.475
6 31 Indonesia Sean Gelael
Netherlands Robin Frijns
Germany René Rast
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.290 1.519
7 22 United Kingdom Philip Hanson
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
United States Will Owen
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.451 1.680
8 9 Poland Robert Kubica
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
Italy Lorenzo Colombo
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.548 1.777
9 41 Portugal Rui Andrade
Austria Ferdinand Habsburg
France Norman Nato
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.640 1.869
10 38 Mexico Roberto Gonzalez
Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa
United Kingdom Will Stevens
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.692 1.921
11 28 Denmark Oliver Rasmussen
United Arab Emirates Ed Jones
South Africa Jonathan Aberdein
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.717 1.946
12 5 United States Dane Cameron
France Emmanuel Collard
Brazil Felipe Nasr
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.887 2.116
13 10 Switzerland Nico Müller
Ireland Ryan Cullen
France Sébastien Bourdais
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'04.985 2.214
14 1 France Lilou Wadoux
France Sébastien Ogier
France Charles Milesi
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'05.148 2.377
15 45 United States Steven Thomas
Australia James Allen
Austria Rene Binder
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'05.370 2.599
16 34 Poland Jakub Smiechowski
United Kingdom Alex Brundle
Mexico Esteban Gutierrez
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'05.383 2.612
17 35 France Jean Baptiste Lahaye
France Matthieu Lahaye
France François Heriau
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'05.843 3.072
18 23 United Kingdom Alex Lynn
United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United States Josh Pierson
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'05.849 3.078
19 44 Slovakia Miro Konopka
Netherlands Tijmen van der Helm
Netherlands Bent Viscaal
Oreca 07 LMP2 2'06.667 3.896

GTE:

Cla # Drivers Car Class Avg Time Gap
1 91 Italy Gianmaria Bruni
Austria Richard Lietz
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 2'14.301  
2 92 Denmark Michael Christensen
France Kevin Estre
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 2'14.481 0.180
3 64 United States Tommy Milner
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE PRO 2'14.606 0.305
4 51 Italy Alessandro Pier Guidi
United Kingdom James Calado
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 2'15.102 0.801
5 52 Spain Miguel Molina
Italy Antonio Fuoco
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 2'15.443 1.142
6 33 United States Ben Keating
Portugal Henrique Chaves Jr.
Denmark Marco Sorensen
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 2'17.408 3.107
7 98 Canada Paul Dalla Lana
United Kingdom David Pittard
Denmark Nicki Thiim
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 2'18.912 4.611
8 56 United States Brendan Iribe
United Kingdom Ollie Millroy
United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 2'19.700 5.399
9 85 Switzerland Rahel Frey
Denmark Michelle Gatting
Belgium Sarah Bovy
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 2'20.789 6.488
10 46 Italy Matteo Cairoli
Denmark Mikkel Pedersen
Switzerland Nicolas Leutwiler
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 2'20.937 6.636
11 77 Germany Christian Ried
United Kingdom Sebastian Priaulx
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 2'21.027 6.726
12 777 Japan Satoshi Hoshino
Japan Tomonobu Fujii
United Kingdom Charlie Fagg
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 2'21.168 6.867
13 54 Switzerland Thomas Flohr
Italy Francesco Castellacci
New Zealand Nick Cassidy
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 2'21.787 7.486
14 88 United States Fred Poordad
United States Patrick Lindsey
Belgium Jan Heylen
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 2'22.622 8.321
15 60 Italy Claudio Schiavoni
Italy Matteo Cressoni
Italy Giancarlo Fisichella
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 2'23.856 9.555
16 71 France Franck Dezoteux
France Pierre Ragues
France Gabriel Aubry
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 2'23.963 9.662
17 86 United Kingdom Michael Wainwright
Italy Riccardo Pera
United Kingdom Benjamin Barker
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 2'24.384 10.083
18 21 France Simon Mann
Switzerland Christoph Ulrich
Finland Toni Vilander
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 2'20.078 5.777
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