Ferrari's 458 Italia GT2
will start the 79th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours
tomorrow afternoon from the front row of the grid as the
the new sports car racer bids to claim victory on its
first appearance in the prestigious endurance race.
In front of grandstands
which had been packed since the early hours of the
morning with fans keen to watch the 79th running of the
Le Mans 24 Hours, qualifying for the famous marathon
event ended at midnight having decided the grid for the
1500 Saturday start.
The #51 Ferrari 458
Italia GT2 entered by AF Corse and driven by Giancarlo
Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander set the
second fastest time of 3.58.040, just 0.448 seconds
slower than the quickest BMW Motorsport M3 GT which
therefore took pole for the LM GTE PRO class thanks to
the efforts of Augusto Farfus, Jorg Muller and Dirk
Werner.
After the session,
Giancarlo Fisichella was pleased with the car’s
excellent performance and great stability. “We are happy
with second place, even if we only missed out on pole by
a whisker. Our race pace is excellent and during my turn
at the wheel I managed to do a great time, even with the
car on full tanks. The 458 is really nice to drive and
we are all confident for the race, even if we are up
against very well prepared rivals like the BMW.”
Amongst the other Ferraris, the Team Farnbacher car
driven by Dominik Farnbacher-Allan Simonsen, Leh Keen,
was fifth fastest with a time of 3.59.519, while the
Luxury Team 458 Italia GT2 in the hands of Stephane
Ortelli-Frederic Makowiecki-Jaime Melo was eighth in
4.12.361. Rob Bell-Tim Sugden-Xavier Maasen (JMW
Motorsport) were eleventh in 4.00.890 while in
thirteenth was the Luxury Racing entry driven by Anthony
Beltoise-Philippe Thiriet-Francois Jakuboski in
4.01.176) ahead of the AF Corse car of Robert
Kauffman-Michael Waltrip-Rui Aguas, fifteenth in
4.02.216.
In the LMGTE Class pole went to the Ferrari F430 GTC
entered by AF Corse and driven by Piergiuseppe Perazzini
(4.01.282) crewed by Marco Cioci-Sean Paul Breslin; they
beat the Porsche of Felbeermayr Jr-Felbeermayr Snr-Christian
Reid by over two seconds. Fifth was the JMB Racing
Ferrari of Manuel Rodrigues-Jean Marc Menahem-Nicolas
Marroc while seventh place went to the Krohn Racing crew
of Tracy Krohn-Niclas Johnsson-Michele Rugolo, ahead of
the CRS Racing F430 GTC of Pierre Ehrt-Roger Wills-Shaun
Lynn, ninth in class.
