Hanson on Pole for 4H Aragon After Lopez Time Deleted

United Autosports will start the 4 Hours of Aragon from pole position as Phil Hanson topped qualifying after Cool Racing driver Jose Maria Lopez had his fastest lap deleted for track limits.

Hanson reeled off a lap of 1:46.822 aboard the No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson to take the Anglo-American squad’s first pole of the season.

The British driver was initially jumped by Lopez in the closing moments of the 15-minute session, as the Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC star put in a 1:46.801 to go faster by 0.021 seconds.

However, the time set by Lopez then came under investigation for a track limits breach at Turn 8 and was subsequently deleted, denying a third consecutive pole for the No. 47 crew.

Lopez dropped to fourth as a result, behind Neel Jani’s No. 30 Duqueine Team Oreca and the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine of Olli Caldwell.

Paul-Loup Chatin rounded out the top five for IDEC Sport ahead of the second United entry driven by Garnet Patterson and the No. 65 Panis Racing car in the hands of Tijmen van der Helm.

Algarve Pro Racing’s No. 25 Oreca failed to set a time, as it stopped on track in the opening minutes of the session with James Allen behind the wheel.

In LMP2 Pro-Am, Salih Yoluc continued his unbeaten streak in qualifying by taking a third consecutive pole.

The Turkish driver defeated Proton Competition’s Giorgio Roda by piloting the No. 34 Oreca to a best time of 1:49.361.

Roda slotted into second place 0.321 seconds behind, with Rodrigo Sales third for Nielsen Racing.

Francois Perrodo took fourth in the No. 83 AF Corse machine, ahead of Team Virage driver Alexander Mattschull.

JMW, Inter Europol Take GTE, LMP3 Poles

Wyatt Brichacek delivered the LMP3 class pole position for Inter Europol Competition.

The American driver posted a best lap of 1:52.269 aboard the No. 13 Ligier JS P320 Nissan, 0.321 seconds clear of the No. 31 Racing Spirit of Leman machine in the hands of Antoine Doquin.

Team Virage qualified third with their No. 8 Ligier driven by Manuel Espirito Santo, while the pair of Eurointernational entries of Adam Ali and Glenn van Berlo completed the top five.

Martin Berry took JMW Motorsport’s second pole position of the season in the GTE class.

Berry steered the No. 66 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo to a best lap of 1:57.022, leading Formula Racing’s Johnny Laursen in a Ferrari 1-2.

The session for GTE runners was interrupted by a red flag, triggered when Ryan Hardwick spun the No. 16 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 into the gravel at Turn 15.

The American driver later rejoined the session and qualified third, ahead of stablemate Michael Fassbender in the No. 93 Porsche.

Takeshi Kimura rounded out the top five aboard the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari.

The 4 Hours of Aragon starts later today at 6 p.m. CEST (12 p.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying