WEC: Lapierre scorches to pole for Alpine; Porsche seals LMGTE 1-2

Nicolas Lapierre claimed an impressive pole position for Alpine ELF Team in qualifying for the Sebring 1000 Miles this evening. Porsche continues to impress as Michael Christensen just shades stablemate Gianmaria Bruni to claim first LMGTE Pro pole of the season.

Hypercar

A 1m47.407s lap from Nico Lapierre was enough to take a clear pole for the opening round of the 2022 WEC campaign

• Lapierre goes almost a second quicker than his first effort in the session and is huge 1.3s ahead of opposition
• Olivier Pla puts Glickenhaus second on the grid with a time of 1m48.741s
• No.8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid places third and No.7 Toyota fourth as Brendan Hartley and Jose-Maria Lopez set times

LMGTE Pro

• Michael Christensen takes thrilling LMGTE Pro pole position with a last lap effort of 1m57.233s in the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR
• Gimmi Bruni is beaten by just 0.150s as Porsche take clear 1-2 for first round of season
• Corvette Racing third as Nick Tandy posts a 1m55.696s in Chevrolet Corvette C8.R
• AF Corse Ferraris place in fourth and fifth in LMGTE Pro as No.51 488 GTE Evo heads No.52 with James Calado and Antonio Fuoco setting times respectively

LMP2

• Nicklas Nielsen takes surprise debut pole position in LMP2 for AF Corse as Dane sets 1m49.014s
• Filipe Albuquerque places second in No.22 United Autosports USA machine with a lap of 1m49.388s
• No.23 United Autosports USA starts third in LMP2 as Paul di Resta sets peak time with a 1m49.510s
• Fabio Scherer crashes the No.34 Inter Europol entry to bring out red flag and curtail session

LMGTE AM

• No.33 TF Sport grabs pole position as Ben Keating peaks with a 1m59.204s in Aston Martin Vantage
• Aston Martin celebrate 1-2 as No.98 Northwest AMR entry driven by Paul Dalla Lana starts from class front row with a best of 2m00.583s
• No.56 Project 1 Porsche places third as Brendan Iribe lays down a lap of 2m00.649s
• No.46 Team Project 1 Porsche causes early red flag after crashing at Turn 8

Pla Tops Times for Glickenhaus in FP3

Olivier Pla’s mid-session time ensured that Glickenhaus returned to the top of the times in the final practice session of the event held earlier in the day. The distinctive 007LMH machine paces the Alpine A480-Gibson of Nico Lapierre by 0.4s.

Michael Christensen again leads the LMGTE Pro class after setting the best time of 1m57.448s in the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR. A 1m57.672s lap by Gimmi Bruni ensures another Porsche 1-2.

United Autosports USA led the way in LMP2 for the second session in a row, this time with its No.22 entry driven by Filipe Albuquerque.

The LMGTE Am category was topped by No.46 Team Project 1 with Matteo Cairoli behind the wheel.