ELMS – Turvey and Jota on pole, TDS and Alpine back to back

With qualifying on the morning of the race, taking risks to seek pole appears to be a very dangerous mission for the candidates for the crown. Yes but there you have it, the contenders for the champion title ELMS 2013 are three in number, a few hours before the start of the 3 Hours of Le Castellet, the closing round of the season. If the teams Signatech Alpine (Pierre Ragues-Nelson Panciatici) and Thiriet by TDS Racing (Pierre Thiriet) are tied at the top of the general classification, the British from Jota Sport (Oliver Turvey) can still win the bet, since before the start of the Var meeting they were only 18 points behind the French duellists.

After qualifying, which was completed recently, Jota Sport and Oliver Turvey reduced the gap separating them from the leaders to 17 units. Indeed, confirming the incredible speed he has demonstrated since the start of the season, the young 26-year-old Briton completed a lap in 1'48"043, placing the #11 Zytek Z38SN-Nissan that he shares with Simon Dolan in pole position, his fourth of the season in five attempts! Alongside him on the front line, we will find the No. 03 Oreca 18-Nissan from Murphy Prototypes. At the wheel, the New Zealander Brendon Hartley conceded 0”097 to his cross-Channel rival. Favorites for the title, the Thiriet by TDS Racing and Signatech Alpine part back to back at the end of these qualifications, since they will share the second row, Mathias Beche having signed a 1'48"974 on the No. 03 Oreca 1-Nissan and Nelson Panciatici a 1'49" 102 on its A450 n°36. “So far, our weekend is very solid, underlines Pierre Ragues. We focused on our own program and our preparation for the race. We were fast in free practice where we were at the top of the order, but have since lacked a bit of pace. Obviously, we would have liked to be a little better placed on the grid, but starting from the second row nevertheless puts us in a good position to fight. During this afternoon's race, we will need to put in a big team performance and get the best out of the car during all the stints. This promises us three hours of exciting but difficult racing. The championship is still very open, everything will be decided this afternoon. We will do our best. »

Behind, we will find the Morgan-Judd Morand Racing of Christian Klien-Natacha Gachnang and the Oreca 03s of Boutsen Ginion Racing, Race Performance and SMP Racing. You have to logically go back to 9th place to find traces of the first Oreca 09 FLM. This is that of Paul-Loup Chatin. By taking pole position, the duo that the Frenchman forms with the Swiss Gary Hirsch moves a little closer to the coronation in LM PC, since they pocket an additional point. However, to win, they only needed two before the start of this meeting.

The situation is somewhat similar in GTE, since it was the championship leaders, namely Matt Griffin and Johnny Mowlem, who took their mount to the top of the timesheet. The crew of the Ferrari 458 Italia No. 52 from Ram Racing brings its lead at the top of the general classification in the category to 24 points over the Proton Competition team. They are therefore only missing one small unit to add their names to the list of winners of the series.

Note in GTC the very good performance of the former driver of Formula 1 Mika Salo, who quickly found the instructions for a Ferrari 458. The Finn set the best time ahead of the other SMP Racing car.

The start of the race will be at 16:30 p.m. Be careful, the weather, currently uncertain, could indeed play a role in the awarding of the title.