Pourchaire poleman at the 4 Hours of Imola: “I felt it was my moment”

Fourth race in Endurance and already a pole position for Theo Pourchaire. . In charge of the flying lap exercise at Algarve Pro Racing this Saturday in Italy, the Frenchman was the fastest at the wheel of the Portuguese team's No. 25 Oreca. By a good margin, the Grasse driver beat Luca Ghiotto (Inter Europol Competition) by almost a second. This performance was all the more remarkable given that qualifying was disrupted for a long time by a storm, delaying the LMP2 Pro/Am and LMP2 sessions by more than an hour.

“A crazy qualifying session” for Pourchaire

« It was a really crazy qualifying session., said Théo Pourchaire after the session. Lots of delays, changing conditions, it was a bit stressful. I don't have much experience driving an LMP2 car in the rain or on a wet track. However, once I was in the car, I just went for it. I really wanted to get pole. I knew these conditions could give me a bit of an advantage, because in LMP2, I'm quite a tall driver... and a bit heavy compared to most of the others. Sometimes that makes life difficult for me on fast circuits and in dry conditions. Today, I felt like it was my moment, that I could do something really well. So I did it. A big thank you to my APR team, as well as my sponsors and everyone who works with me and supports me. It means a lot. The last time I was on pole was in Monza, already in Italy! I think I love this country. It was in Formula 2In 2023. »

Despite the drying conditions and still three minutes on the clock after a red flag, Théo Pourchaire didn't think to put on slick tires. To be honest, I didn't think about it. When I came out after the red flag, I saw that there was a completely dry line on the track, I was surprised. Luckily, there was only one lap left, and everyone was still on wet tires. So, I just pushed even harder than the others. That's good news for tomorrow, because there's still some rain forecast. The track dries very quickly as soon as the sun comes out, so we'll see. »

Join us at 12:00 this Sunday for the start of the 4 2025 Hours of Imola, the third round of the 2025 European Championship season. Le Mans Series.

ALSO READ > Théo Pourchaire takes pole position at the 4 Hours of Imola