Round 5 - Qualifying

Panoz on Pole but It's Action All the Way Further Down the Grid

Vallelunga, Italy - Saturday 1st September 2001: As expected the Panoz LMP1 Roadster of Gary Formato and Richard Dean took pole position for Round 5 of the 2001 European Le Mans Series.  Formato took the wheel to take another six tenths of a second out of the time set in this mornings qualifying practice session. 

The action was happening behind the sole LMP900 contender with Chris Goodwin playing a cat and mouse game with Franz Konrad in the GTS class.  Goodwin sat in the RML Saleen while Konrad set a benchmark time for the British squad.  Goodwin emerged from the pits for a three lap dash and went two tenths of a second quicker than the Konrad Motorsport Saleen before returning to the pits.  Konrad returned to the track but was unable to better Goodwin's time before the chequered flag.

The GT's once again proved the class to watch as five cars battled for the top spot, with only 0.056 seconds separating the top three Porsches.  Magnus Wallinder in the Harlow Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 posted the fastest GT time of the 45-minute session but he knows that he will have to battle hard tomorrow to keep the others at bay.   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The LMP675 Debora of Didier Bonnet Racing, with Francois Jackubowski at the wheel, qualified fourth as the team continue to develop the car.  Their sole objective for tomorrows race is to reach the chequered flag.

Warm up will take place tomorrow morning at 09:00 (local) with the green flag dropping to start the last race of the ELMS season at 13:04. 

Combined Qualifying - 45 Minutes

1 - LMP900 - R Dean / G Formato - Panoz LMP1 Roadster - 1m06.987s
2 - GTS - I McKellar Jnr / C Goodwin - Saleen S7R - 1:10.326s
3 - GTS - W Brun / F Konrad - Saleen S7R - 1:10.559s
4 - LMP675 - F Jackubowski / X Bich - Debora - 1:13.275s
5 - GT - T Rymer / M Wallinder - Porsche 911 GT3 R - 1:14.820s
6 - GT - R Dumas / C Chateau - Porsche 996 GT3 R - 1:14.850s
7 - GT - R Liddell / M Youles - Porsche 911 GT3 RS - 1:14.876s
8 - GT - T Littlejohn / X Pompidou - Porsche 996 GT3 R - 1:15.113s
9 - GT - P Masarati / M Possumato - Porsche 911 GT3 RS - 1:15.377s
10 - GT - P Orti / W Kaufmann - Porsche 911 GT3 R - 1:15.992s

- ENDS -