IDEC Sport took pole position in Saturday’s ten minute qualifying shootout with Paul Loup Chatin setting a time of 1:41.194 on the penultimate lap of the session. Matthieu Vaxivière put the TDS ORECA onto second spot on the grid just 0.4 seconds behind Chatin. The top three positions are closed out by the #21 Dragonspeed car which set a time of 1:41.904. The first six cars were all ORECA 07 chassis’ with seventh being the #23 Ligier JSP217 of Panis-Barthez Competition.
Although the Dallara chassis showed some speed during tests here earlier in the week and free practice, none of the entries shone in qualifying with the highest placed P217 being the #35 SMP Racing in ninth position.
David Droux took the #19 M.Racing – YMR Norma M30 to its first LMP3 pole position with a 1:51.930 time on his final lap just 0.061 seconds ahead of Mathieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate. DKR Engineering rounded out the top three with reigning Michelin Le Mans Cup champion Alexander Toril clocking in a 1:52.104 meaning that it was an all-Norma top three. With a mere 0.174 seconds separating first to third it’s clear LMP3 will be the class to watch in 2018.
