Aston Martin Racing has taken pole position in the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Pro class for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. Kiwi driver Richie Stanaway will start from third in the #95 Aston Martin with teammates Nicki Thiim (DN) and Marco Sorensen.
Darren Turner, a former 2-time class winner at Le Mans, put the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage which he will share with Jonny Adam and Daniel Serra on pole in the GTE categories with a record-breaking time of 3:50.837.
Between Turner and his AMR team mates in the No.95 car was the No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado (PierGuidi-Rugolo), just 0.19s seconds from the pole man.
Ferrari, Ford, Corvette and Porsche followed in quick succession behind them, the times signalling a great race ahead in this World Championship category.
The different GT marques were equally well represented in LMGTE Am, with the first four places being filled by Corvette, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche.
IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon’s in the #69 Ford GT was fifth quickest.
The WEC’s Am points leading No.98 Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy-Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda challenged for the class pole throughout, finishing the third and final qualifying session 0.3s behind the Larbre Corvette.
Next highest WEC competitor was the No.77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR, the performance of Cairoli-Ried-Dienst no doubt being boosted by the presence of team owner Patrick Dempsey.
There is no track action tomorrow to allow teams time to prepare the cars for the twice-round-the-clock classic which begins at 15h00 on Saturday.
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