Lapierre Takes DragonSpeed to Third Pole of Season at Estoril

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Nicolas Lapierre and DragonSpeed took their third pole of the European Le Mans Series season, ahead of Sunday’s season-ending Four Hours of Estoril.

Lapierre went faster than Paul Loup Chatin and Olivier Pla in the closing stages of the mixed-condition session to set a 1:44.146 lap time, good enough to place the Oreca 05 Nissan four-tenths ahead of Chatin’s Panis-Barthez Competition Ligier JS P2 Nissan.

A late charge from Giedo van der Garde, in drying conditions, placed the G-Drive Racing car in third, with Pla’s Krohn Racing Ligier Nissan in fourth.

The championship-leading Thiriet by TDS Racing car will start from seventh on the LMP2 grid.

Alex Brundle pipped teammate Wayne Boyd to the LMP3 pole, making it a United Autosports 1-2 in the all-Ligier JS P3 Nissan class.

Class champion Brundle went 0.186 seconds quicker than Boyd, with the No. 2 car setting a 1:50.355 to beat the No. 3 car to the top spot.

The two Duqueine Engineering cars were third and fourth, while Panis-Barthez’s Simon Gachet qualified fifth in class.

Ben Barker put his No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR on GTE pole with a 1:54.754 on his return to the series. He will share the car with Gianluca Roda and Christian Ried in tomorrow’s race.

Alessandro Pier Guidi took second in the AT Racing Ferrari F458 Italia, while Marco Cioci and Matt Griffin put the two AF Corse cars in third and fourth.

Championship leader Andrea Bertolini was fifth-fastest in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari.

The race is set for 1:30 p.m. local time on Sunday.

RESULTS: Qualifying

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.