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Le Mans / ALMS
ALMS: Rebellion Takes Petit Le Mans Pole
Neel Jani rockets to overall pole for the 15th annual Petit Le Mans; Olivier Pla (P2); Toni Vilander (GT) among class pole-sitters at Road Atlanta...
Rebellion Racing claimed overall pole for Saturday's 15th annual Petit Le Mans. (Photo: John Dagys)
The "away" teams dominated qualifying Friday at Road Atlanta, as the American and European Le Mans Series seasons draw their seasons to a close in Saturday's 15th annual Petit Le Mans.
Rebellion Racing claimed its first-ever overall LMP1 pole, besting ALMS regulars Muscle Milk Pickett Racing and Dyson Racing, while OAK Racing took the top qualifying position in P2, a class which sees a mix of ELMS regulars also fighting out for their respective championships.
Up front, Neel Jani laid down a best lap of 1:09.089 in his Rebellion Lola B12/60 Toyota. The Swiss driver edged out the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03a of Lucas Luhr by 0.34 seconds.
Fresh from last weekend's Six Hours of Fuji FIA World Endurance Championship event, the Anglo-Swiss squad will be searching for its maiden overall victory in sports car competition.
"We came here with one target and that's to win Petit Le Mans," said Jani, who will share driving duties with Nicolas Prost and Andrea Belicchi. "There's a chance. We know qualifying is a very small thing in order to win the race. The race tomorrow is a totally different game. We're just focusing on ourselves to try and win that race."
Luhr and co-driver Klaus Graf, meanwhile, can lock up the ALMS P1 title with reaching 70 percent distance in tomorrow's 1,000-mile/10-hour enduro.
The duo will be joined by Porsche factory driver Romain Dumas as they go head-to-head with the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/60 Mazda of Guy Smith, Chris Dyson and Steven Kane, which qualified third.
The other big story from qualifying was the impressive run by Olivier Pla, who secured the P2 pole aboard his OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan.
The Frenchman reeled off a 1:12.046 lap time late in the 15-minute session, outpacing the ALMS-contending No. 37 Conquest Endurance Morgan-Nissan of Martin Plowman by a mere 0.02 seconds.
It marked the first all front-row start for the French constructor and gives Pla and co-drivers Bertrand Baguette and team principal Jacques Nicolet prime position to attack as they chase the ELMS championship on Saturday.
"We arrived here from Fuji, put the car on track and it was very quick in the beginning," Pla said. "The team gave me a great car today, so it's looking good for the race.
"But we can't forget our target, which is try to win the ELMS championship for the team, as well for the driver. Of course, I would like to fight for the overall victory in P2. That would be nice, so we will try to it tomorrow."
OAK's U.S. sister team, Conquest Endurance, was quickest of the ALMS P2 contingent in second, thanks to a near-identical 1:12.048 lap time set by Plowman.
The No. 055 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b of Marino Franchitti qualified third in the car he'll share with brother Dario and team owner Scott Tucker. Tucker, who is again pulling double-duty this weekend, can clinch the ALMS P2 title tomorrow by also finishing 70 percent of the race in the team's No. 95 car he'll share with Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz.
Recovering from a testing accident on Wednesday, the Nissan DeltaWing of Gunnar Jeannette ran a respectable 1:13.330 lap time, qualifying the experimental prototype 10th overall. It will, however, start from the rear of the field, since it runs unclassified.
PHOTOS: Petit Le Mans Gallery
Rebellion Racing claimed its first-ever overall LMP1 pole, besting ALMS regulars Muscle Milk Pickett Racing and Dyson Racing, while OAK Racing took the top qualifying position in P2, a class which sees a mix of ELMS regulars also fighting out for their respective championships.
Up front, Neel Jani laid down a best lap of 1:09.089 in his Rebellion Lola B12/60 Toyota. The Swiss driver edged out the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03a of Lucas Luhr by 0.34 seconds.
Fresh from last weekend's Six Hours of Fuji FIA World Endurance Championship event, the Anglo-Swiss squad will be searching for its maiden overall victory in sports car competition.
"We came here with one target and that's to win Petit Le Mans," said Jani, who will share driving duties with Nicolas Prost and Andrea Belicchi. "There's a chance. We know qualifying is a very small thing in order to win the race. The race tomorrow is a totally different game. We're just focusing on ourselves to try and win that race."
Luhr and co-driver Klaus Graf, meanwhile, can lock up the ALMS P1 title with reaching 70 percent distance in tomorrow's 1,000-mile/10-hour enduro.
The duo will be joined by Porsche factory driver Romain Dumas as they go head-to-head with the No. 16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/60 Mazda of Guy Smith, Chris Dyson and Steven Kane, which qualified third.
The other big story from qualifying was the impressive run by Olivier Pla, who secured the P2 pole aboard his OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan.
The Frenchman reeled off a 1:12.046 lap time late in the 15-minute session, outpacing the ALMS-contending No. 37 Conquest Endurance Morgan-Nissan of Martin Plowman by a mere 0.02 seconds.
It marked the first all front-row start for the French constructor and gives Pla and co-drivers Bertrand Baguette and team principal Jacques Nicolet prime position to attack as they chase the ELMS championship on Saturday.
"We arrived here from Fuji, put the car on track and it was very quick in the beginning," Pla said. "The team gave me a great car today, so it's looking good for the race.
"But we can't forget our target, which is try to win the ELMS championship for the team, as well for the driver. Of course, I would like to fight for the overall victory in P2. That would be nice, so we will try to it tomorrow."
OAK's U.S. sister team, Conquest Endurance, was quickest of the ALMS P2 contingent in second, thanks to a near-identical 1:12.048 lap time set by Plowman.
The No. 055 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b of Marino Franchitti qualified third in the car he'll share with brother Dario and team owner Scott Tucker. Tucker, who is again pulling double-duty this weekend, can clinch the ALMS P2 title tomorrow by also finishing 70 percent of the race in the team's No. 95 car he'll share with Christophe Bouchut and Luis Diaz.
Recovering from a testing accident on Wednesday, the Nissan DeltaWing of Gunnar Jeannette ran a respectable 1:13.330 lap time, qualifying the experimental prototype 10th overall. It will, however, start from the rear of the field, since it runs unclassified.
PHOTOS: Petit Le Mans Gallery
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