Allen Storms to 4H Algarve Pole

James Allen took a dominant pole position for the 4 Hours of Algarve in a rain-affected qualifying session for the first of this weekend’s two European Le Mans Series races at Portimao.

The Australian driver reeled off a series of increasingly times aboard the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 Gibson, ultimately ending up with a 1:48.674 to lead Inter Europol Competition’s Olli Caldwell by 0.881 seconds.

The British driver came closest to matching Allen’s pace, at one point bringing the gap down to 0.174 seconds before Allen improved again by posting his pole time.

Qualifying on Friday morning was impacted by rain showers both before and during track running, which saw several drivers struggle to put down times in changeable conditions.

Laurents Hoerr, driving the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca, picked up third 1.222 seconds behind Allen, with Panis Racing’s Job van Uitert and Duqueine Team driver Neel Jani rounding out the top five.

Phil Hanson qualified sixth, nearly two seconds off pole, while Cool Racing’s No. 47 Oreca will start last in class with Reshad de Gerus 3.119 seconds removed from pole position.

In LMP2 Pro-Am, Team Virage’s Alexander Mattschull took a last-gasp pole position to lead Racing Team Turkey driver Salih Yoluc by 1.046 seconds.

Mattschull charged to a 1:55.426 aboard the No. 19 Oreca, with the German’s lap coming at the very end of the 15-minute session that had seen earlier rapid improvements from both Yoluc and the No. 99 Proton Competition car of Giorgio Roda.

Roda set the early session pace as Yoluc struggled, with the Turkish driver coming close to losing control of his No. 34 Oreca coming out of the final corner on a flying lap before continuing.

Even as Roda appeared to be closing in on pole, Yoluc then outpaced the Italian with a 1:56.472, only for Mattschull to improve and claim Team Virage’s first pole of the season.

Yoluc took second ahead of Roda, with Rodrigo Sales fourth for Nielsen Racing and the No. 3 DKR Engineering Oreca of Tom van Rompuy completing the top five.

Virage, TF Sport on LMP3, GTE Class Poles

Team Virage completed a sweep of pole positions across its two-car entry, with Manuel Espirito Santo beating Oscar Tunjo to pole in LMP3.

Espirito Santo’s No. 8 Ligier JS P320 Nissan posted a 1:56.029 to lead shortly before the arrival of a mid-session rain shower, which made further improvements all but impossible.

Tunjo, piloting the No. 12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine D08 Nissan, came closest to toppling the Portuguese driver but ultimately ended up second, 0.226 seconds behind.

Marcos Siebert picked up third aboard the No. 17 Cool Racing Ligier, with Adam Ali and Pedro Perino rounding out the top five for Eurointernational and DKR Engineering.

In GTE, Arnold Robin set the pace in the No. 72 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR, improving shortly before a session-ending red flag.

Robin posted a 2:01.872 just before the session was stopped when Michael Fassbender spun the No. 93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 into the gravel, triggering a red flag.

It gave the No. 72 Aston Martin a margin of 0.958 seconds over the No. 50 Formula Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Johnny Laursen, with Duncan Cameron third.

The 4 Hours of Algarve kicks off at 2:45 p.m. local time (9:45 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying