Milesi Takes Pole in Delayed Portimao Qualifying

Charles Milesi became the first repeat overall polesitter of the European Le Mans Series season by topping a delayed qualifying session for the 4 Hours of Portimao.

The Alpine Hypercar driver steered the No. 65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 Gibson to a best lap of 1:30.727, which was good enough to beat Cool Racing’s Malthe Jakobsen by 0.382 seconds.

The qualifying session for the final round of the European Le Mans Series season got underway 75 minutes later than planned after barrier repairs were required after an earlier crash in a Michelin Le Mans Cup session.

Will Stevens slotted into third in the No. 27 Nielsen Racing Oreca, 0.065 seconds behind Jakobsen but 0.032 seconds ahead of the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing entry piloted by Alex Lynn.

Ben Hanley completed the top five for United Autosports, ahead of IDEC Sport’s Job van Uitert and championship leader Louis Deletraz in the No. 14 AO by TF Oreca.

Giorgio Roda took a fifth LMP2 Pro-Am pole position from six races aboard the No. 77 Proton Competition Oreca by reeling off a 1:32.919.

In the process, he outpaced Richard Mille by TDS driver Rodrigo Sales by 0.618 seconds, who in turn was 0.180 seconds faster than the No. 83 AF Corse Oreca piloted by Francois Perrodo.

John Falb was fourth for Nielsen Racing, with Daniel Schneider completing the top five behind the wheel of No. 21 United Autosports Oreca.

Cool Racing, Iron Dames on LMP3, LMGT3 Poles

Cool Racing’s Manuel Espirito Santo took pole position in LMP3 for the third time this season, posting a 1:37.498 aboard the No. 17 Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Wyatt Brichacek was 0.606 seconds back in second place aboard the No. 4 DKR Engineering Duqueine D08 Nissan, ahead of the second Duqueine driven by Oscar Tunjo.

Pedro Perino captured fourth in the No. 88 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, ahead of Ultimate driver Jean-Baptiste Lahaye and the RLR M Sport pairing of Gael Julien and Bailey Voisin.

Sarah Bovy took a dominant pole position in LMGT3, beating nearest challenger Johnny Laursen by nearly a second.

The No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R set a best time of 1:42.408, 0.969 seconds ahead of Laursen’s No. 50 Formula Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

Martin Berry and Derek DeBoer formed an all-Aston Martin second row in third and fourth, respectively, while Hiroshi Hamaguchi completed the top five in class aboard the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The 4 Hours of Portimao starts Saturday at 2:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EDT).