The qualifying session for the 4 Hours of Portimao ended with a surprise as Team Turkey took pole position ahead of Prema Racing. Jack Aitken drove the no34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca-Gibson to the front of the grid with a last lap of 1m32.375. This was the first pole position for the Turkish team, and it took away the single championship point that would have secured the 2022 ELMS Team and Driver titles for Prema Racing.
Prema Racing had started the 10-minute session on a high note with Louis Deletraz driving the no9 Prema Racing Oreca to the top of the timing screens. However, they were soon pushed down the order by James Allen’s no47 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, followed by the no31 TDS Racing by Vaillante Oreca of Mathias Beche. With four minutes to go, Deletraz put his Prema Racing Oreca back on top and seemed unstoppable as the rest of the field took the chequered flag. However, Aitken’s last lap snatched the pole position from Prema Racing by just 0.072s.
LMP3: Malthe Jakobsen’s Sixth Pole in Six Attempts
Malthe Jakobsen created history by becoming the first driver to score six poles in a single ELMS season. The Dane achieved this feat by putting his Cool Racing Ligier at the top of the 13-car field for the final race of the 2022 season in Portugal. Jakobsen’s time of 1m37.100 was enough to clinch his sixth pole.
Jakobsen’s pole position pushed Kay Van Berlo’s no3 United Autosports Ligier to the second row. Guilherme Oliveira’s no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier and Sebastian Alvarez’s no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine completed the top four.
LMGTE: Sarah Bovy’s Debut Pole Position
Sarah Bovy created history by becoming the first female driver to secure a class pole position in the ELMS. She achieved this feat by driving the no83 Iron Lynx Ferrari to a time of 1m41.888, just four seconds before the end of the 10-minute qualifying session.
Giacomo Petrobelli’s no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari had set the early pace, but Bovy’s no83 Iron Lynx Ferrari went second quickest with a time of 1m41.943. Diego Alessi’s no32 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari then pushed Bovy to third. However, Bovy’s late lap put her on pole position, just 0.028s ahead of Petrobelli.
The 4 Hours of Portimao will start on Sunday, 16 October, at 13h00.
CLICK HERE for the result from Qualifying.
