Spa WEC: Pla secures maiden pole for Glickenhaus

The Frenchman posted a 2m02.771s aboard the solo Glickenhaus 007 LMH to claim the top spot by a couple of tenths from fellow countryman Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Alpine A480-Gibson.

The Glickenhaus and the Alpine, in which Vaxiviere recorded a 2m02.999s, outpaced the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids in the 10-minute prototype qualifying session.

Kamui Kobayashi’s best time of 2m03.087s just shaded Brendon Hartley’s 2m03.137s in the sister car as the two Toyotas took third and fourth positions.

The Glickenhaus and the Alpine both set their times on their first flying laps, while the two Toyota drivers were unable to post representative times when the Michelin tyres were at their best on the first lap.

Pla said: “I made a mistake at Turn 1 on the first flier: I braked a little bit late, missed the apex and had a bit of a moment on the exit, but the rest of the lap was quite good.

“Pole is great for the team: they have put a lot of effort into the programme with a low budget, people shouldn’t forget that.”

Watch the entire WEC Six Hours of Spa race live on Motorsport.tv (geo-restrictions may apply).

#83 AF Corse Oreca 07 - Gibson LMP2 : François Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen, Alessio Rovera

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

Alessio Rovera snatched LMP2 pole in the AF Corse team’s Pro/Am Oreca 07 right at the end of the of the session.

The Italian made a big improvement on his second set of Goodyear tyres to get down to a 2m04.246s, which was good enough to knock Robin Frijns in the fastest of the two WRT entries off the top spot.

A 2m04.290s from Frijns on his only flying lap was still good enough for the Dutchman to hang onto second position.

Filipe Albuquerque improved to third with a 2m04.451s in the best of the United Autosports Orecas on his second run. The late runs from Rovera and Albuquerque pushed Louis Deletraz in the Prema Oreca and Norman Nato in the second WRT car down to fourth and fifth respectively.

#91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR 19 LMGTE Pro of Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Gianmaria Bruni snatched pole position in GTE Pro, his first in the WEC since the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours, from Porsche teammate Michael Christensen on his final lap of qualifying.

The Italian got down to a 2m14.301s on his third flying lap to better the 2m14.481s Christensen set on his second lap.

Bruni’s final lap vaulted him from third position behind Nick Tandy’s Chevrolet Corvette C8.R onto the pole.

Tandy’s lost his first time lap to a track limits infraction and then posted a 2m14.606s on his third attempt.

Ferrari was closer to the pace than at the championship opener at Sebring in March, as Alessandro Pier Guidi took fourth position in the best of the AF Corse run 488 GTE Evos with a 2m15.102s, which was eight tenths off the ultimate pace.

Miguel Molina brought up the rear of the class with a time that was over a second shy of Bruni’s pole lap.

Ben Keating was on pole by a second and a half in GTE Am aboard his TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE. His 2m17.408s was set on his third lap, while Paul Dalla Lana got down to a 2m18.912s in the NorthWest AMR Vantage.

The Spa 6 Hours, round two of the 2022 WEC, begins at 13:00 local time in Belgium on Saturday.

WEC Spa 6 Hours - Qualifying results

Hypercar/LMP2:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Avg Time	Gap
1	708	Olivier Pla Romain Dumas Pipo Derani	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	HYPERCAR	2'02.771
2	36	Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A480	HYPERCAR	2'02.999	0.228
3	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	2'03.087	0.316
4	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	2'03.137	0.366
5	83	François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.246	1.475
6	31	Sean Gelael Robin Frijns René Rast	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.290	1.519
7	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.451	1.680
8	9	Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.548	1.777
9	41	Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.640	1.869
10	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.692	1.921
11	28	Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones Jonathan Aberdein	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.717	1.946
12	5	Dane Cameron Emmanuel Collard Felipe Nasr	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.887	2.116
13	10	Nico Müller Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.985	2.214
14	1	Lilou Wadoux Sébastien Ogier Charles Milesi	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'05.148	2.377
15	45	Steven Thomas James Allen Rene Binder	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'05.370	2.599
16	34	Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'05.383	2.612
17	35	Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'05.843	3.072
18	23	Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'05.849	3.078
19	44	Miro Konopka Tijmen van der Helm Bent Viscaal	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'06.667	3.896
View full results

GTE:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Avg Time	Gap
1	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	2'14.301
2	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	2'14.481	0.180
3	64	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE PRO	2'14.606	0.305
4	51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	2'15.102	0.801
5	52	Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	2'15.443	1.142
6	33	Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'17.408	3.107
7	98	Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'18.912	4.611
8	56	Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'19.700	5.399
9	85	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'20.789	6.488
10	46	Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'20.937	6.636
11	77	Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'21.027	6.726
12	777	Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'21.168	6.867
13	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Nick Cassidy	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'21.787	7.486
14	88	Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'22.622	8.321
15	60	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'23.856	9.555
16	71	Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'23.963	9.662
17	86	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'24.384	10.083
18	21	Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'20.078	5.777
View full results