Asian Le Mans Series Season Opener: Qualifying Results from Le Castellet
Le Castellet, France – The opening round of the Asian Le Mans Series at Circuit Paul Ricard saw Ferrari teams dominate the qualifying sessions across all classes.
In the Hypercar class, the Ferrari 499Ps shared pole positions. Roberto Lacorte in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari secured pole for Qualifying 1 with a time of 1:51.979, edging out Luis Perez Companc in the #90 AF Corse entry by 1.181 seconds. In Qualifying 2, Perez Companc responded decisively, clocking in a 1:50.794 to claim pole, finishing 0.611 seconds ahead of Lacorte.
LMP2 qualifiers saw Giorgio Roda extending his streak of consecutive poles to five in Qualifying 1 with a time of 1:53.160 in his #22 United Autosports ORECA. However, in Qualifying 2, Georgios Kolovos of Proton Competition took the top spot with a 1:51.955, leaving Roda in second at 1:52.170. The starting grid’s second row is comprised of Torsten Kratz and Antti Rammo.
In the GT3 category, Steve Jans propelled the #9 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to pole in Qualifying 1, finishing with a time of 2:02.879, just 0.066 seconds ahead of defending champion Dustin Blattner in the #58 McLaren GT3 Evo. Qualifying 2 saw Gray Newell from Heart of Racing Team take pole with an impressive 2:01.257, nearly a second faster than his competitors.
Notable events included the #88 Craft-Bamboo Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG failing to set a lap time, resulting in a Red Flag incident, and the struggle of the Iron Lynx teams throughout the session due to prior incidents in practice.
The first race of the 2026/27 Asian Le Mans Series kicks off tomorrow at 13:15 CEST.
Images courtesy of Asian Le Mans Series.
