The two Aston Martin DBR9s of Larbre Competition ended in 6th and 7th positions on the GT1 grid after today’s qualifying session for the second round of the Le Mans Series in Valencia.
Frenchman Christophe Bouchut qualified Car 50, posting a time of 1:33.883, just nine tenths of a second off the pace of the championship leading Corvette C6. R of Luc Alphand Adventures and less than half a second behind Team Modena’s DBR9 and Alphand’s second Corvette.
Prior experience of the Valencia circuit in his single seater days earned Belgian sportscar rookie Greg Franchi the job of qualifying car 51, and whilst a time of 1:34.892 was only good enough for seventh in class, it showed significant progress from earlier in the weekend.
Whilst the Saleens of Team Oreca and Racing Box start first and second tomorrow, having dominated the GT1 time sheets all weekend, confidence is still high in the Larbre Competition camp with a long race in store around the twisty Valencia Circuit.
Team Boss Jack Leconte revealed issues with set-up affected car 50, but was delighted with Greg Franchi’s solid display on his qualifying debut in car 51. “As we were testing the new air conditioning system on car 50, we had no time for set-up work on Friday because there were so many other things to do. We made a mistake with a change of set-up before qualifying this morning and it wasn’t possible to change it during qualifying, which is why we were a little off the pace. In car 51 I was very pleased with young Greg Franchi’s first qualifying session. He didn’t make any mistakes but also improved the car’s lap time from free practice. Today he showed he is capable of being a very fast competitor and of having more responsibility within the team. “
Christophe Bouchut was hoping to be further up the grid, but explained things conspired against car 50: “We had a hard time yesterday with the set up so in a bid to win time we decided to change the springs for qualifying. In the end it didn’t pay off as the car was less competitive and the rear end was too nervous. I locked a rear-wheel and had a half-spin and we also had a misfire near the end. I know the team will work hard tonight though to make sure everything will be fine for the race. “
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