By Tarek Ramchani
The Audi teams had an unlucky and frustrating Blancpain Endurance Series qualifying session at the Paul Ricard. A single Audi R8 LMS ultra car made it into the Top 10.
The best ranked Audi car was the #26 R8 LMS from the French team Sainteloc Racing. The car driven by Stéphane Ortelli, Edward Sandstrom and Gregory Guilvert was eight fastest with a best time of 1:57.971, only 0.773s down to the leading McLaren car. The three drivers were classified fourth within the Pro-Cup class.
The #3 Audi R8 LMS ultra from Belgian Audi Club Team WRT which lead the first Q1 ended in fourteenth place. The car is shared by Christopher Mies, James Nash and Frank Stippler.
The second Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Pro-Cup entry had a harder session. The #1 car with drivers Laurens Vanthoor, Marc Basseng and Cesar Ramos finished in twenty-fourth place.
The other Audi R8 LMS ultra cars were further down. The #55 Brothers Racing Team (Pro-Cup) was twenty-ninth, the #25 Sainteloc Racing (Gentlemen Trophy) was thirty-sixth, the #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT (Gentlemen Trophy) was thirty-seventh, the #22 Team Parker Racing (Gentlemen Trophy) was thirty-eighth and the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT (Gentlemen Trophy) was fourty-first.
Overall pole position went to the #98 McLaren MP4-12C from ART Grand Prix. The #85 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 from HTP Motorsport was second. The #80 Nissan GT-R from Nissan GT Academy Team RJN was third leading the Pro-Am field.
The combines qualifying session results can be seen here.
The three-hour nigh race will start at 19:15 with a Live Stream coverage at www.blancpain-gt-series.com
Photo credit: Blancpain GT Series
