Zytek Imola Qualifying Report

Zytek/Nissan Engines Again Dominate In Qualifying

Four out of the top five LMP2 class spots at Imola

Once again, the Zytek/Nissan VK45DE engined Le Mans LMP2 prototypes have dominated their class in qualify three four occasions this year, including the Le Mans 24-hours, they now start tomorrow’s Six Hours of Imola as overwhelming favourites.

First in this afternoon’s 20-minute qualifying session was Mathias Beche in the Spa-Francorchamps winning TDS Racing Oreca-Nissan. The Swiss, who celebrated his 25th birthday earlier in the week, took provisional pole early in the session and then twice proceeded to better his own time. His final fastest lap of 1m 37.202s was over 0.9 seconds quicker than the fastest non-Nissan LMP2 entry. Matthias was closely followed by Dominik Kraihammer in Boutsen Energy’s Oreca-Nissan. Fourth place was taken by another Oreca-Nissan 03, the Signatech entry of Soheil Ayari.

#46 TDS Racing Oreca 03 - Nissan: Mathias Beche, Pierre Thiriet, Jody Firth

Photo by: DPPI

The strength of the Zytek/Nissan-engined line-up was underlined by the fifth place in class. This was Zytek’s own Z11SN chassis that led for the final 11 hours of Le Mans and also won LMP2 at Paul Ricard. Tom Kimber-Smith, one of the winning drivers at Le Mans, was at the wheel of the Greaves Motorsport-entered car this afternoon for the qualifying session.

A second Zytek chassis, the Zytek V8-powered LMP1 09S of MIK Corse, which was having its first race since Spa, was ninth fastest overall in the hands of Maximo Cortes. Rain had punctuated the earlier practice sessions and qualifying was the first chance that the Spaniard had to drive the car at Imola when the track was dry. Although the car is still running in conventional form, it is planned to use the new Zytek ZPH KERS hybrid system at Silverstone in September.

The Zyteks and the Oreca-Nissans will be on the track again tomorrow morning at 0900 to warm up for the six-hour race itself, which starts at 1200.

BY: Zytek