First pole position for Nielsen Racing in ELMS.

ELMS

Aug 23

First pole position for Nielsen Racing in European Le Mans Series thanks to Ferdinand Habsburg who was able to take advantage of a dry track at the very end of the session while the rain had made an appearance at the end of the morning Free Practice. With only two hours between FP2 and qualifying, all four sessions took place on a wet track.

Ferdinand Habsbourg was fastest of qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps today, Giorgio Roda was on top of timesheets in LMP2 Pro/Am, Theodor Jensen as usual in LMP3 and Duncan Cameron enheritated pole in LMGT3.

Habsburg snatches pole for Nielsen Racing

The rain invited itself at the end of the morning Free Practice (FP2). When the LMP2’s started their 15 minutes qualifying session, the track started to get dry so that it was to the ones driving their fastest lap at the end of the session who would end up on top of the timesheets.

Ferdinand Habsbourg (#24 Nielsen Racing Oreca) snatched pole with a 2:14.972 on his final flying lap, 0"217 faster than Matteo Cairoli who had long been the fastest of the session with Iron Lynx Oreca 07 #9 with a 2:15.217. Note that Habsburg was the only one under the 2:15 mark.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps. Iron Lynx Oreca 07 #9

Charles Milesi (#48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca) was 0.492 slower in P3, Théo Pourchaire (#25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca) 0.767 slower in P4 and the last one within one second from Habsburg also the last under the 2:16 mark. Both will start from second row while Grégoire Saucy will start from third row as he was fifth of the session with United Autosports Oreca #22.

Third pole for Roda in LMP2 PRO AM

In LMP2 Pro/Am, Giorgio Roda clinched to his third pole position of the season aboard the #77 Proton Competition ORECA with a 2:19.636. He was 1.645 seconds quicker than PJ Hyett with AO by TF’s #99 ORECA.

Mercedes-AMG #63 fastest but no pole in LMGT3

In LMGT3, Martin Berry topped the LMGT3 qualifying session aboard the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 with a 2:37.115 but he’ll not start from pole position due to a five-place grid penalty following an incident at the previous round at Imola.

Instead, championship-leading Duncan Cameron will start from LMGT3 pole tomorrow in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3 as he was second with a 2:37.703.

Jensen as usual in LMP3

Business as usual in LMP3, as Theodor Jensen was fastest with CLX Motorsport’s #17 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota with a 2:26.054. It is Jensen’s fourth ELMS LMP3 pole in a row this season. Victory at Spa-Francorchamps would secure the 2025 title for the Swiss team with an unprecedented two race margin.