Swiss team Cool Racing is set to start the 4 Hours of Barcelona race with pole position in both the LMP2 and LMP3 categories. Yifei Ye, the reigning ELMS champion, secured the LMP2 pole position with a 2m04.515 lap, just before the session was red-flagged due to the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca spinning and ending up stranded in the middle of the track. When the session restarted with less than 6 minutes left on the clock, Patrick Pilet in the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca posted a 2m03.851 lap, and the rest of the field jostled for 2nd place. As the chequered flag approached, Yifei Ye crossed the line in 2m03.544 to secure pole position, 0.307s ahead of the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca. The no65 Panis Racing Oreca, driven by Nico Jamin, finished third on the grid after posting a 2m04.172 lap, pushing Phil Hanson in the no22 United Autosports Oreca into 4th spot at the chequered flag.
In the LMP3 category, Malthe Jakobsen, driving the no17 Cool Racing Ligier-Nissan, secured his fifth class pole position for the fifth race of the 2022 ELMS season with a 2m11.062 lap. The young Dane finished the 12-minute session 0.8 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The no2 United Autosports Ligier of Kay Van Berlo will start alongside the lead car, after the Dutch driver put in a 2m11.922 lap, 0.860s behind the no17 Ligier and 0.3s ahead of Nico Pino in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier. The DKR Engineering run car, the only Duqueine on the 13 car LMP3 grid, finished the session in 4th place, posting a 2m12.346 lap in the hands of Sebastian Alvarez.
Grünwald Claims Pole Position for Kessel Racing Ferrari in LMGTE Category
Conrad Grünwald, an American driver, secured pole position for the 4 Hours of Barcelona in the LMGTE category on his ELMS debut, driving the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari. Grünwald made an early bid for pole with a 2m17.183 lap, which he improved to 2m17.074, a time that was never bettered during the 12-minute session. The no69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin of Ahmad Al Harthy finished second on the grid, with a time of 2m18.185 lap, 1.111s behind the yellow Ferrari. The no32 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Diego Alessi finished third fastest, pushing the no83 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Sarah Bovy into 4th at the end of the session by just 0.036s.
CLICK HERE for the result from Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
