Silverstone: Zytek qualifying report

Four Ginetta-Zytek Le Mans prototypes line up together on the grid for tomorrow's Autosport 1000km of Silverstone. The two 3.4-litre LMP2 versions, second and third in their class, will start the race just behind the pair of 4.5-litre 09SBs.

Second fastest in the LMP2 category was reigning Le Mans Series class champion, Frenchman Olivier Pla with a time of 1m 49.538s. "The session went well. The balance of the car was good and I did my best. We are confident of our race pace and we know that the car is a consistent performer, so victory tomorrow is possible." Olivier will share the Quifel-ASM entered car with his regular co-driver Portugal's Miguel Amaral.

Less that a second behind and third in class was Thor-Christian Ebbesvik in the Team Bruichladdich 09SB. The young Norwegian was also pleased with his Ginetta-Zytek although feeling that he could have gone faster if he had not been held up in traffic. "I should have been even closer to Olivier. However, I am happy with my times and confident for tomorrow," he said. His fastest lap took 1m 50.374s. Karim Ojjeh and Tim Greaves will share the driving duties with him tomorrow.

Ahead of the LMP2 pair on the grid will be the two LMP1 Ginetta-Zyteks with the Beechdean Mansell 09SB driven by Greg Mansell just over a second ahead of Team LNT's car with Johnny Mowlem at the wheel. Their times, which earned them 11th and 12th overall, were 1m 47.421s and 1m 48.509s. Greg will be joined tomorrow by his brother Leo, while Johnny will share the LNT car with Tony Burgess and Chris McMurry.

The Autosport 1000km of Silverstone, final round of the 2010 Le Mans Series, starts at 11.55am tomorrow. The 45 cars entered face 170 laps of Silverstone's re-configured 3.66-mile circuit.

-source: zytek