Dragonspeed on Pole for Season Finale in Portugal

On a damp but drying track the times tumbled and the battle for the top spot in the final race of the year was hard fought.  As the clock counted down to zero the no40 Krohn Racing Ligier of Olivier Pla went to the top of the timing screens only to be knocked off the top by Lapierre with the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier of Paul Loup Chatin pushing Pla’s Ligier onto the second row.  The bright green Krohn Ligier fell back to 4^th as Giedo Van Der Garde went third quickest as he crossed the line for the final time in the no38 G Drive Racing Gibson.

The championship leading no46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca of Mathias Beche struggled in the damp conditions, going off track on the opening lap and ending the 10-minute session in 7^th place.

In LMP3 the newly crowned class champions in the no2 United Autosports took their first ELMS pole position with Alex Brundle posting a 1m50.355, just under two tenths of his teammate in the no3 United Autosports Ligier.  The no19 Duqueine Engineering Ligier of Dino Lunardi was third quickest.

With the no2 Ligier claiming pole in Portugal it means that there have been six different cars claiming the LMP3 pole position at each of the six rounds in the 2016 European Le Mans Series

The LMGTE battle took place on the wettest track of the three sessions and in the end it was the no88 Proton Competition Porsche of Ben Barker who took the top spot, claiming the second pole for the no88 Porsche, the other claimed by Matteo Cairoli in Austria.  The British driver posted a 1m54.754 lap, 0.347s ahead of the no56 AT Racing Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Championship leader, Andrea Bertolini in the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari was 5^th fastest with a 1m56.409 lap but the Italian was three places ahead of their only rivals for the 2016 LMGTE title with Darren Turner finishing at the back of the field in the no99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage with a 1m57.213 in the extremely tricky track conditions.

The 4 Hours of Estoril will take place on Sunday 23 October, with the race getting underway at 13h30 (local).

CLICK HERE for the results from qualifying