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Lapierre gives ORECA Silverstone pole

ORECA driver Nicolas Lapierre claimed a clear pole position for the AUTOSPORT 1000km at Silverstone

Lapierre improved on his free practice best by a second and a half on the way to a 1m32.798s benchmark, which put his AIM-engined ORECA 01 on pole by nearly a second. That compared with second-placed Stefan Mucke's 1m33.714s lap in the championship-leading #007 Lola-Aston Martin.

"We've had a big update to the rear aero, which was very last minute," said Lapierre as he celebrated his second Le Mans Series pole in a row, having also taken the top spot for the Algarve round before his team skipped the Nurburgring race. "We spent free practice balancing the car and it was getting better and better through the sessions."

Any disappointment that the Aston crew felt at missing out on pole will be tempered by the fact that their title rivals at Pescarolo will start at the back. Jean-Christophe Boullion went off at Becketts before he could set a competitive time.

Darren Turner ended up third fastest in the second AMR Lola-Aston LMP1 coupe with a time nine tenths slower than team-mate Mucke. Andrea Belicchi was less than half a tenth behind in fourth place aboard the Speedy/Sebah Lola-Aston.

Greg Mansell, who is sharing the Team LNT Ginetta-Zytek with father Nigel and Lawrence Tomlinson, ended up fifth in the times. He qualified just ahead of fellow Briton Andy Meyrick in the best of the Kolles Audis. The sister car will be at the tail of the field after Christijan Albers crashed. The Strakka Ginetta Zytek, which failed to start for the session, joins the Kolles car and the Pescarolo at the back.

Olivier Pla was more than a second faster than his nearest rival in LMP2. His ASM Team Ginetta-Zytek claimed the class pole with a 1m36.092s, which compared with second fastest Jonny Kane's 1m37.128s best in the Speedy/Sebah Lola-Judd.

Laurent Groppi bagged a second consecutive class pole after a battle involving all three cars on the GT1 entry. The Larbre Saleen edged out Peter Kox in the Gigawave Aston Martin by just 0.082s, while the Aston was only 0.052s ahead of Yann Clairay in the Alphand Corvette.

Pole position gave Richard Lietz one of the two points he and Felbermayr-Proton Porsche team-mate Marc Lieb need to secure the GT2 crown. The Austrian driver ended up two tenths ahead of Gianmaria Bruni in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari.

Pos  Drivers                       Cl    Car                Time
 1.  Panis/Lapierre                LMP1  ORECA 01-AIM       1m32.798s
 2.  Charouz/Enge/Mucke            LMP1  Lola Aston Martin  1m33.714s
 3.  Primat/Turner                 LMP1  Lola Aston Martin  1m34.618s
 4.  Belicchi/Fassler/Prost        LMP1  Lola Aston Martin  1m34.654s
 5.  Tomlinson/Mansell/Mansell     LMP1  Ginetta-Zytek      1m35.296s
 6.  Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman  LMP1  Audi               1m35.522s
 7.  Buncombe/Hall/Ramos           LMP1  Lola Aston Martin  1m36.014s
 8.  Amaral/Pla                    LMP2  Ginetta Zytek      1m36.092s
 9.  Ragues/Mailleux               LMP1  ORECA Judd         1m36.292s
10.  Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou     LMP2  Lola Judd          1m37.128s
11.  Erdos/Newton                  LMP2  Lola Mazda         1m37.280s
12.  Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter          LMP2  Zytek              1m38.210s
13.  Manning/Firth/Hughes          LMP2  WF01 Zytek         1m38.810s
14.  Salini/Salini/Gommendy        LMP2  WR Zytek           1m39.096s
15.  Lahaye/Ajlani                 LMP2  Pescarolo Mazda    1m39.396s
16.  Nicolet/Hein                  LMP2  Pescarolo Mazda    1m40.116s
17.  Cavailhes/Da Rocha/Ibanez     LMP2  Courage AER        1m41.922s
18.  Bruneau/Greaves/Sini          LMP2  Radical AER        1m42.340s
19.  Jorda/Cortes/Nieto            LMP2  Lucchini Judd      1m43.470s
20.  Schell/Thirion/Metz           LMP2  Courage AER        1m44.486s
21.  Berville/Dumez/Groppi         GT1   Saleen S7R         1m45.714s
22.  Sharp/Kox                     GT1   Aston Martin       1m45.796s
23.  Clairay/Jousse/Goueslard      GT1   Corvette           1m45.848s
24.  Lieb/Lietz/Felbermayr Sr      GT2   Porsche            1m48.638s
25.  Bell/Bruni                    GT2   Ferrari            1m48.830s
26.  Pilet/Narac                   GT2   Porsche            1m48.984s
27.  Garcia/Mansell/Melo           GT2   Ferrari            1m49.358s
28.  Kaffer/Montanari              GT2   Ferrari            1m49.570s
29.  Cocker/Drayson                GT2   Aston Martin       1m49.594s
30.  Rosa/Montermini/Cadei         GT2   Ferrari            1m49.612s
31.  Ehret/Farnbacher/Beltoise     GT2   Ferrari            1m50.062s
32.  Coronel/Janis                 GT2   Spyker             1m50.342s
33.  Griffin/Bamford               GT2   Ferrari            1m50.710s
34.  Hartshorne/Kutemann/Daoudi    GT2   Ferrari            1m51.126s
35.  Ried/Felbermayr Jr/Martins    GT2   Porsche            1m52.176s
36.  Tenchini/Basso/Plati          GT2   Ferrari            1m52.630s
37.  Palttala/Daniels/Rich         GT2   Porsche            1m52.920s
38.  Boullion/Tinseau              LMP1  Pescarolo-Judd     5m31.444s
39.  Albers/Bakkerud               LMP1  Audi               5m59.292s

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