Le Mans Series news

ORECA storms to Silverstone pole

Nicolas Lapierre and Olivier Panis will start in the best position for the Silverstone 1000km after stamping their authority on pole position on Saturday. As the ORECA team returns in dominant style, three Aston Martins line up from second to fourth with Nigel Mansell netting a top five result on his first appearance in the championship.

The French ORECA team had decided not to enter the race at Nürburgring and so lost all chances for the title, but would like to end the season on a high note as a reward for the hard team work, as Nicolas Lapierre explained:

"The practice sessions went well and the balance was getting better and better. Our package works well here and we want to finish the race tomorrow. It would be good for us to take the victory because we have been trying to win since the beginning of the season, but traffic and reliability will be key factors tomorrow."

With three Lolas-Aston Martin, the British team takes no chances in its quest of the Holy Grail! The team has topped the time-sheets for the last free practice session and chalked up second and third best times, demonstrating that it doesn't lead the Series by chance.

The crew of the #007 car has a seven-point lead on the Pescarolo boys, who will start from the back of the pack tomorrow after Jean-Christophe Boullion went off. Thanks to its 1-2-3 at Nürburgring, the Britons not only scored the maximum points, but also had a psychological advantage over its closest opponent. Indeed, the French team can rely on a single car to try to thwart the Britons' plans and the German race demonstrated that this is a high-risk strategy.

Greg Mansell posted an impressive and unexpected fifth time for his first time in the Le Mans Series, which shows how well Team LNT worked on the race setup.

We are now used to Quifel-ASM Team and Olivier Pla ruling the LMP2 class. The Portuguese team was short of one point to clinch the title, so it was very important to set the pole to score that missing point. Whatever happens tomorrow, the squad is now sure to be the winner of the season. Despite a good position on the grid, Speedy Racing Team Sebah cannot catch up its rival anymore, but expects that luck will be on its side for once tomorrow. Although Team RML set the third time, it won't start from third position on the grid because of an engine failure at Nürburgring.

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