Under the sun-kissed skies of Italy’s ‘Temple of Speed’, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Franco Colapinto in the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca took pole position for tomorrow’s four hours of Monza race.
G-Drive’s Argentinian hot-shot set a stunning 1:37.49 some 0.424s ahead of second place Jonathan Aberdein in the #22 United Autosports car. Lining up third on the grid tomorrow will be the #41 Team WRT car following a sterling qualification by Louis Delétraz.
The ‘Pro-Am’ Pole went to Dragonspeed with Ben Hanley setting a 1:38.058 in the #21; good enough to start fourth in tomorrow’s four hour race.
Sunday’s race will boast a 44 car grid, the largest of the season to date, with Realteam Racing, Racing Team Nederland and JOTA using it as tracktime practice for next weekend’s six-hour WEC race.
DKR Engineering once again proved they were the team to beat in LMP3 with Laurents Hörr setting a fastest lap of 1:43.416 to claim the class pole for the third time in a row. Ugo de Wilde in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier claimed second, some 0.053s behind Hörr whilst Canadian Garett Grist brought the #20 Team Virage Ligier home in 1:43.219 to claim third spot on the grid.
In the GTE class, honours went to ‘super-sub’ Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE setting a 1:46.608 fastest lap despite stopping for new tyres. Pier Guidi stepped in at the last minute to replace Matt Griffin who had to return home earlier in the week after the sudden loss of his father – all of us here at SCG send Matt and his family our deepest sympathies and condolences.
Alessio Rovera brought the #88 AF Corse Ferrari in 0.051s behind with Ross Gunn bringing the #95 TF SPORT Aston Martin Vantage AMR he shares with John Hartshorne and Olly Hancock in for third on the grid.