Any clouds in the sky and hot track on qualifying at Sepang

Saturday at Sepang has seen the hottest weather at the track so far this weekend. With barely any clouds in the sky, the track temperature has risen to over 50°, making for tough conditions for the teams.

LM P2 — Free practice three served as a warm up session this morning for the qualifying in the afternoon, in which Jamie Winslow, consistently fastest in every session this weekend, once more set the best overall time, giving him pole with a lap of 1:58.773. Shinji Nakano in the #8 Race Performance Oreca 03 R Judd will be starting alongside him on the first row tomorrow, having set a time of 1:59.734. Close behind will be the third LM P2 car, the #99 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 03 R Nissan, with Bradley’s time of 1:59.787.

LM P3 — In LM P3, DC Racing’s Ho-Pin Tung drove the #1 Ligier JSP3 to its second LMP3 pole position, 4th overall, with a time of 2:03.244.

CN — In CN, the #69 Atlantic Racing Team was the fastest of the two cars, placing themselves 10th overall in the times with John Bryant Meisner’s lap of 2:08.019.

GT — So far this weekend, it’s been tricky to see who would stand out in the GT class, with the best lap in each session being set by a different car. In qualifying, the #3 Clearwater Racing McLaren 650S GT3 came out on top, with Rob Bell setting a time of 2:06.838 early on in the session. The #5 Absolute Racing Audi R8 GT3 will be starting alongside them on the grid, with their best lap time 2:07.075, set by Alessio Picariello. Third quickest was the #91 Team AAI BMW Z4, with Ollie Millroy setting a best lap of 2:07.654. Unfortunately, they, along with #7 ARC Bratislava Audi R8, and the #89 ADESS 03, will be starting from the back of the grid, having had their qualifying times cancelled due to pushing their cars into the garage before the end of qualifying, which goes against the regulations.

GTAm — In GTAm, Dan Wells set the car’s best time of 2:13.623, placing it ahead of #38 Spirit of Race Ferrari 458. The team is pleased with their performance and hope to make it to the end of the race tomorrow.

The main event, our 3-hour race, starts at 14:15 tomorrow.

Quotes

Rob Bell - #3 Clearwater Racing McLaren 650S GT3: “It’s very hot, so we went out early to try and get a clean track. I think that worked, I didn’t get into any traffic. I got two good, solid clean laps. I think I got the most out of it, maybe one tenth was still to be had, but I’m pretty happy with the lap. We’ve got to push to be at the front. There might not be a huge amount of cars on the grid but I think it’s quite important to get pole, try and be in a bit of clean air tomorrow for whoever starts. It’s going to plan. I think the race is going to be really tough, with the tyre degradation and the track conditions. We’re expecting the unexpected. We’ll for sure be first past the line tomorrow, but anything can happen after that. Expecting the worst and hoping for the best.”

John O’Hara – Team manager #51 KCMG Porsche GT3 Cup: “Everybody’s happy. Paul is learning, because it’s a new circuit for him. It’s also a new circuit for Christian, and Dan knows the circuit, but doesn’t know the car, so everybody’s learning. We’re quite happy. The car’s run well, all drivers are happy, and we’re content with everybody’s pace. The pit stop practice was going well too. We’re reasonably confident we can finish the race in a reasonable position.”

Rémy Brouard – Team Manager #1 DC Racing Ligier JS P3: “We had a few small electrical problems just on the last lap of free practice three, so we spent most of the time until qualifying to find the problem. It was quite hard to find, but we changed a few pieces and the car was perfect for qualifying. If it was a little cooler out, we might’ve been able to climb into the 2:02, 2:01 times, up with the LM P2s. We have two things in our favour . that the car doesn’t wear its tyres too quickly, and that it doesn’t consume much fuel. We’ve also scored another point for the championship. One point is one point.”

John Bryant Meisner - #69 Atlantic Racing Team Wolf Racing GB08: “It was good. We were quicker than the other CN, which is always good. Nothing negative, as long as we’re fastest. It’ll be good to do my first endurance race. My longest race has been 30 minutes, so it’s going to be a bit longer. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Jamie Winslow - #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JSP2: “The team have done a fantastic job, the car’s hooked up. We arrived with a setup working. Basically, I just had to do my job, not make any mistakes, and get the most from the car and the time just took care of itself. I think the Ligier runs a little more downforce than some of the other cars, so we think that for the race it’s going to look after its tyres pretty well. My two teammates have been doing a very good job as well. Their pace is very strong compared to the other teams. Hopefully tomorrow we won’t make any mistakes, or push too hard, cruise it round, then after three hours, we’re still in front.”

Asian Le Mans Series