Deletraz Takes 4H Spa Pole in Red-Flagged Qualifying

Louis Deletraz secured pole position for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps amidst a flurry of late improvements after qualifying was interrupted by a red flag.

The Swiss racer steered the No. 14 AO by TF Oreca 07 Gibson to a best lap of 2:01.253, outpacing Imola pole sitter Charles Milesi by 0.407 seconds.

Tom Dillmann slotted into third in the No, 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, joined on the second row by Cool Racing’s Ritomo Miyata in fourth place.

LMP2 qualifying was interrupted by a red flag when both Ben Hanley and Frederik Vesti found the gravel simultaneously at Pouhon and Les Combes, respectively.

When the session resumed, the positions radically changed as drivers put in late improvements in the closing minutes.

This resulted in James Allen, who sat in first at the time of the red flag, filtering down to twelfth by the time the session ended.

Defending champions Algarve Pro Racing qualified fifth with Alex Lynn at the wheel of the No. 25 Oreca, ahead of the No. 23 Oreca of Paul di Resta and Vector Sport’s Felipe Drugovich.

The overall top ten was completed by Matteo Cairoli, Luca Ghiotto and Job van Uitert.

The battle for LMP2 Pro-Am pole position was decided between Rodrigo Sales, Giorgio Roda and John Falb, with the former deciding the session in his favour with late flyer.

Sales, driving the No. 29 Richard Mille by TDS Oreca, reeled off a 2:04.537 to beat Giorgio Roda by 0.033 seconds.

Roda, in turn, had posted a 2:04.570 to outpace John Falb after the No. 24 Nielsen Racing Oreca had led much of the early running.

Falb ended the session in third, with Francois Perrodo in fourth, 0.366 seconds off pole aboard the No. 83 AF Corse Oreca.

Julien, Hamaguchi Take LMP3, LMGT3 Poles

In LMP3, Gael Julien took pole with a last-gasp flyer, which came after a trip through the gravel for Cool Racing’s Manuel Espirito Santo.

Julien posted a 2:11.847 in the No. 15 RLR M Sport Ligier JS P320 Nissan to leapfrog the No. 17 Cool Racing Ligier by 0.040 seconds.

Cool driver Espirito Santo sat at the top of the timesheets towards the end of the session, but then ran through the gravel at Stavelot on his final lap.

Subsequently, Julien slotted into first place in the final moments to drop Espirito Santo to second.

Pedro Perino took third for Inter Europol Competition, with Gillian Henrion and Oscar Tunjo completing the top five for Team Virage and WTM by Rinaldi Racing, respectively.

Hiroshi Hamaguchi captured pole position in LMGT3 by a second, beating Formula Racing driver Johnny Laursen.

The Japanese racer steered the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to a best lap of 2:17.873, 1.043 seconds ahead of the No. 55 Ferrari 296 GT3.

However, the Italian squad remains under investigation for a possible violation of parc ferme rules after qualifying.

The No. 97 Grid Motorsport by TF Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo took third in the hands of Martin Berry, with Duncan Cameron fourth for Spirit of Race.

Sarah Bovy completed the top five in the rebuilt No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R, the team having completed extensive repair works in the wake of a crash also involving United Autosports driver Bijoy Garg during Free Practice 1 on Friday.

The 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps kicks off Sunday at 11:30 a.m. CEST (5:30 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying