DragonSpeed has claimed Pole Position for the opening round of the 2017 European Le Mans Series at Silverstone. Following a stellar 1:44.040 lap by British driver Ben Hanley in the #21 DragonSpeed ORECA 07 Gibson in today’s Qualifying session the team will start ahead of the other 11 LMP2 entries for tomorrow’s four-hour race.
The #22 G-Drive Racing by DragonSpeed Oreca of Ryo Hirakawa meanwhile, qualified in P4 with a lap time of 1:45.216, meaning both DragonSpeed-run prototypes will start on the front two rows.
Hanley’s fastest lap came after a brief stoppage for another LMP2 runner getting stuck in a gravel trap, leaving the front-runners with just five minutes to battle for the top spot once the session returned to green.
The 32-year-old withstood the intense pressure to set the best lap of the session to put the DragonSpeed team and the Oreca 07 atop the times for the first Qualifying session in Europe for the new-for-2017 LMP2 cars.
“We spent two laps getting the tyres ready for the first push, and then the red flag came out just as I was starting to push in the final sector,” said Hanley, who will share the #21 Oreca with Nicolas Lapierre and Henrik Hedman.
“After the session got back underway we then had to push straight away, and on my second lap, the second and third sectors were just right. The team did a great job in getting the car set up so well.”
Hirokawa added: “It was a really good performance, especially after we had a few issues this morning. I had a lot of confidence in Qualifying and had a spin, but recovered and still finished up P4. It’s a long race though and I’m looking forward it.”
“I’ve been looking for a moment to put Ben in the car for Qualifying, because I knew that he could get a result like this,” team principal Elton Julian said, commenting on the result.
“I trust him, having him drive the car in Qualifying on his home race was fitting and he produced, it was a great lap.”
Tomorrow’s four-hour race on the world-famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit is set to begin at 14:30 local time in the UK.