G-Drive Racing on pole in Dubai

The thick fog enveloping Dubai this morning slowly dissipating, qualifying for the first two rounds of the Asian Le Mans Series 2021 were able to start, as planned, at 9:55 a.m. local time.

As a reminder, this session aims to determine the starting grids for the two weekend races, respectively based on the best time and the best second time.

As tradition dictates, the GTs were the first to hit the track. At the end of 20′ of driving, it is Porsche No. 99 of Herberth Motorsport which took pole for tomorrow's first race, thanks to a lap completed in 1'55"552 by Robert Renauer. As a reminder, the German shares the wheel with Alfred Renauer and Ralf Bohn.

Second tomorrow at the start, the No. 911 GPX Racing 3 GT40 will start at the head of the GT peloton on Sunday for the second race, after Julien Andlauer set the best second time in these qualifications. The young Frenchman will start in front of the two Herberth Motorsport Porsches, with the #93 from Görig-Au-Bachler ahead of the #99.

In LM P3, the top three will be the same for both races, with a 100% United Autosports front row each time. The #320 Ligier JS P23 of Wayne Boyd-Rory Penttinen-Manuel Maldonado is credited with the two pole positions. Boyd was narrowly ahead of his stablemate Duncan Tappy, who shares the wheel with Andrew Bentley and James McGuire.

The No. 320 CD Sport JS P33 will start tomorrow and the day after tomorrow just behind the two British Ligiers, thanks to Adam Eteki, who made a convincing debut in the prototype.

Finally, the LM P2 – as usual – closed the session. The duel between the two G-Drive Racing Aurus 01s turned to the advantage of the No. 25 driven this morning by Franco Colapinto. The Argentinian was 0”269 ahead of his stablemate Yifei Ye, registered on the No. 26.

The first row of the starting grid will also be the same for the two races on the program this weekend. On the other hand, if it is the Oreca 07 n°5 of Phoenix Racing which will start 3rd tomorrow thanks to a time of 1'44072 signed by Nicki Thiim, the Dane should exchange his place on the grid on Sunday with the Oreca 07 n °28 of Jota, led during these qualifications by Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne's teammate.

See you tomorrow, at 11:15 a.m., for the first of these two rounds contested at the Dubai Autodrome. A race which will be followed live video on AUTOhebdo.fr