It took Anthony Davidson just three laps to put the #7 Peugeot 908 on the pole with a lap of 1:07.428, .128 faster than the #1 Audi R18 of Timo Bernhard. Stephane Sarrazin in the #8 Peugeot came in .325 seconds behind the Audi, .132 seconds ahead of Dindo Capello in the #2 Audi.
Six-tenths of a second covering four cars is not a large spread, particularly for a ten-hour race. The top two teams are still essentially equal.
Davidson started from the pole in 2010 but finished second; this year, he said, he hoped to go one better.
“It feels great to take the pole. It puts us in the best possible position for tomorrow’s race, which will be tough. So far it's history repeating itself, but we walked away with second place last year so I want to do one step better tomorrow.”
Davidson broke his collarbone in a bicycle accident seven weeks ago; he needed surgery to repair the break, which cost him a a chance to drive on his home track of Silverstone.
It’s been a painful seven weeks,” he said. “Seven weeks ago I never dreamed I’d be sitting her now with the pole position at Petit Le Mans. I had to miss my home race at Silverstone, which was disappointing. The team pulled together and did a fantastic job to walk away with a victory there.
It’s great that I’m teaming up with Sébastian Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud. I won at Imola with Sébastian. This is the first time the trio has been together and so far, so good.”
Diaz Gets Level 5 the P2 Pole
“It was more about getting a clean lap,” he continued. “When the P1s pass us it can take some off. Those other guys were pulling some big laps and were doing really well. We know the speed of the Nissan and to be able to beat them today it says a lot.
Diaz said that traffic would be a big factor during the race. “We don’t have the power to pass the other cars on the straights so we have to risk more even than the P1s, so it’s going to be challenging, but that’s what makes this series so special. We have so many classes running and everybody is doing their best. We are looking forward to the race tomorrow; I am sure it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Marcelli Tops LMPC
Marcelli not only took the pole, he set a new class record for the class.
Marcelli said the accident provided him with extra motivation. “I didn't get to get into the car this morning. It was planned that I would finish the last 15 minutes this morning and do a mock qualifying run. When we called David in, he did one more lap and ironically that was the one he crashed on. I trusted our engineers and our staff with rebuilding the car, so I knew I just had to go to work. A victory here is special, and it's something we go after.”
AF Corse Sweeps Both GT Classes
Gianmaria Bruni, who drove here for Risi Ferrari last year, took the GTE-Pro pole in the #51 Ferrari 458. “It was good racing here, I enjoyed it so much last year. It's always a pleasure when I come here to race. It's always a good battle with others.
“To have Rui on pole and myself to be on the pole for AF Corsa, it’s a great thing. The race tomorrow is another story but for today, we make the story.”
AF Corse Ferrari is locked in a tight points battle with BMW for the ILMC constructor’s championship. With a ten-point lead, some strategists might opt to simply stay ahead of BMW, but Bruni insisted that wasn’t the AF Corse plan.
“It is very important for us to stay ahead of them for Ferrari and for the AF Corsa team to win this championship. We've traveled so far, we won’t be trying to stay ahead of the BMWs—for sure, we'll be looking for the win.”
Rui Aguas completed the AF Corse sweep with fastest lap in the #61-GTE-AM Ferrari F430 in his first outing at Road Atlanta.
“I think the track is very nice, very challenging, up and down,” he said. “I am enjoying my first time here with my teammates. We had some problems before qualifying and got those taken care of before this session. So it shows a lot for our team and for the Ferrari.”
Bleekemolen Takes Tenth GTC Pole
“It’ such a long race that the first hour is not that important. So many yellows are going to come out you just have to keep the car perfectly clean, no damage; you have to push but not too hard because you need a good car in the last hour.
Bleekemolen said that the traffic issues were not an issue for GTC cars.
“For us it’s not that bad. It’s hard to believe with all these cars on the track. This track is so tight it’s very hard for other cars to overtake between Turn Two and Turn Five unless they take all the risk. Most guys just stay behind us while we can do our maximum and push as hard as we can. If I look at some numbers from practice all my laps times are within a second, but P1 goes up and down eight seconds.”
The 14th running of Petit Le Mans will start at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 1 at the Road Atlanta racetrack in Braselton, Ga.
For ticket information visit the Road Atlanta website or call 770-967-6143, or 1-800-849-RACE. Tickets will also be available at the gate on race day.
