OAK Racing locks out LM P2 second row during Bahrain qualifying

Late efforts from both Olivier Pla and Dominik Kraihamer helped OAK Racing lock out the second row of the LM P2 class grid for round six of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Bahrain tomorrow.

The team had high hopes of picking up their second pole position of the WEC season after topping all three free practice sessions, but eventually had to settle for third and fourth places behind the Starworks Motorsport HPD and ADR-Delta Oreca-Nissan.

#35 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan: Bertrand Baguette, Dominik Kraihamer, Alex Brundle

Photo by: DPPI

From there the Frenchman, along with team-mates Matthieu Lahaye and Jacques Nicolet, will be hopeful of notching up a second podium in as many races following their third place finish in Brazil.

Meanwhile Kraihamer, who set the fastest time in practice two last night, was a constant threat at the top of the timesheets but also required a late flying lap as others around him improved.

In the end the Austrian finished less than 0.3sec behind Pla in fourth. He, along with Bertrand Baguette and Alex Brundle, will now be looking to make up for the disappointment of missing out on a near-certain second place at Interlagos with another strong drive tomorrow.

Sebastien Philippe, Team Principal: “Considering our free practice pace we are a bit disappointed with the qualifying result. The team made no mistakes and both drivers were excellent but the Starworks car was too far away today.

Having said that, second place was definitely possible. P3 and P4 is much better than our recent qualifying form though so we’re well set to take advantage of our fast and consistent race pace tomorrow.”

Olivier Pla, #24 Morgan 2012 LM P2: “I was expecting a bit more to be honest. It took me a long time to bring the tyres in, which is why the car was quicker towards the end of the session. Most of this race will be run in the dark and last night we had great consistency and pace throughout the stint, so P3 isn’t such a bad place to be starting.”

Dominik Kraihamer, #35 Morgan 2012 LM P2: “I concentrated on finding a rhythm and was able to steadily work down to the quick final time. I know there’s more pace in the car as I wasn’t pushing 120% due to my inexperience here. I’m starting the race tomorrow and am confident that we have excellent consistency over our longer runs, so a good result is certainly possible.”

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