Alex Malykhin took LMGT3 pole in a dominant fashion in for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Imola, with the Belarusian setting a 1:42.365, driving the #92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Ian James, the man behind The Heart of Racing team, was second in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, but he was just a hair under seven tenths slower than Malykhin.
Third was Ahmad Al Harthy, onboard the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.
The session started with all 18 cars in the class attempting to be in the top 10, to go through to Hyperpole.
The lap times came thick and fast once the bronze-rated drivers had heated up their tyres. Yasser Shahin, driving the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R, set the initial fastest lap, then improved it to stay top. However, as the times came tumbling down as tyre heat improved and fuel was burned off, Heart of Racing’s Ian James went top in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3.
He wasn’t top for long, though, with Al Harthy and then Iron Dames’s Sarah Bovy went fastest.
Eventual polesitter Malkhin, in the #92 Manthey Porsche, then went faster, setting a 1:42.734, the eventual fastest lap of the first session. Bovy was second, almost two tenths off, with Shahin third, followed by the two AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s, #55’s Francois Heriau followed by #54’s Thomas Flohr.
Qatar polesitter Tom Van Rompuy, in the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3R missed out on Hyperpole, with the Dutchman missing out by just under two tenths, 11th fastest.
Also out in the first 12 minute session was Clement Mateu in the #777 D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, sister #82 TF Sport Corvette’s Hiroshi Koizumi, Proton’s Ryan Hardwick, United Autosport’s Josh Caygill, Akkodis ASP’s Arnold Robin, followed by teammate Takeshi Kimura, and Claudio Schiavoni in the Iron Lynx Lamborghini last.
Into Hyperpole and, straight out of the gate, Malykhin was fastest, immediately setting his pole lap once he’d warmed his tyres up, a 1:42.365.
No one else could match Malykhin for the rest of the 10 minute session. Ian James could only manage second, while Team WRT’s Darren Leung was briefly third before being unseated by Al Harthy.
Sarah Bovy, in the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, was only fifth, meanwhile.
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