The no7 Audi R18 of Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler ended the 20-minute wet session on pole position with an average time of 1m53.204 and at the head of the field for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Silverstone. 

The no8 Audi R18 will line up alongside the sister car on the front row of the grid. However it was nearly a role reversal situation as Lucas Di Grassi was on a flying last lap in the no8 car but went off the track at the end of The Vale, destroying the Brazilian’s chance to take the top spot on the timing sheets.  The average time was just 0.1 seconds adrift of their teammates.

The two Porsche 919 hybrids will start on the second row with the no2 Porsche finishing just ahead of the no1 car by just 0.1 seconds but nearly a second behind the Audis.  The brand new Toyota TS050 struggled in the wet conditions with the no6 car finishing ahead of the sister car but with an average time of 1m58.200 the no6 Toyota was 5 seconds off the pace of the pole position car.

The LMP1 Privateer pole went to the no4 Bykolles CLM-AER of James Rossiter and Oliver Webb with a time of 2m08.332s 

The no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca05-Nissan of Roman Rusinov and Rene Rast took the pole in LMP2 but Rast had to do his time right at the end of the session to set an average 2 lap time of 2m08.479, seven tenths ahead of the no31 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier of Pipo Derani and Christopher Cumming.

Ferrari’s Bitter Sweet Qualifying at Silverstone

On a very Silverstone track the no51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 looked on course to claim the first LMGTE pole position of the 2016.  James Calado had posted the fastest time of the session with a 2m11.764 lap and returned to the pits to hand over the car to Gianmaria Bruni.  However the Italian returned to the pits and into garage without completing a lap due to technical issue in the engine bay of the car.  This meant the no51 didn’t set an average time and will start tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Silverstone at the back of the grid.

While the no51 car was suffering, there was joy for their teammates in the no71 Ferrari as Davide Rigon and Sam Bird took pole position with a 2 lap average of 2m12.440.  The Ferrari was 1.3 seconds ahead of the nearest car, the no77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Richard Leitz and Michael Christensen, with the no66 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GT of Stefan Mucke and Olivier Pla in third with a 2m14.475 lap, despite a late trip into the gravel trap at Stowe Corner for Pla. 

In LMGTE Am class it was the no88 Abu Dhabi –Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of Klaus Bachler and Khaled Al Qubaisi who claimed the top spot with an average time of 2m15.466, nearly two seconds ahead of the no78 KCMG Porsche of Wolf Henzler and Christian Ried. 

The no50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette of Paolo Ruberti had set the early class pace but dropped back to third after the Italian handed over to Yutaka Yamagishi and at the chequered flag the 2 lap average time was 2m18.344.

The 6 Hours of Silverstone will take place on Sunday 17 April at 12h00 BST.