Autosportfoto

Blancpain: Martin takes pole for Marc VDS Racing Team

Maxime Martin (BEL) in the #3 Marc VDS Racing Team took pole position with a very rapid time of 2m06.245s in the third part of this morning's qualifying session at Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France.

Martin said: "We knew the car would be good on this track, with the chicane on the straight, so it's a good step. It's important regarding the championship still. We started with two bad races so now we need a good one. We've got pole, it's not the race. The race is long, three hours. We need to get to the finish without mistakes and with consistent pace. I think it's a good step. It is hard to celebrate after what happened earlier (in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo accident). It is always a shame to see this, like last weekend. It shows that motor racing is still dangerous. My thoughts are with Andrea Mamé's family."

Second place in the PRO Cup class was Israeli driver Alon Day in a HTP Motorsport entered Mercedes SLS AMG. Paul Ricard is the first appearance of the HTP team in the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series and Day will share the car with Maximilian Buhk (GER) and Lucas Ludwig (GER).

Fastest in the PRO-AM category and second overall in the final part of qualifying was the Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG driven by the ever impressive Adam Christodoulou (GBR). He lapped the Paul Ricard circuit in a best time of 2m06.663s.

After his 15-minute qualifying session, Christodoulou said: "It went very well, it was very busy on the track with many cars, it was tough, and everyone was waiting in the last corner to make sure to have clear space. I had two clear laps during my run, the first was good and the second even better so it felt really good for the team because they worked a lot yesterday and overnight. The car is really good so congratulations to all the team."

Taking top position in the Gentlemen Trophy class was the #77 MRS GT Racing McLaren MP4-12C. Making it three different brands of GT3 supercar on pole in the three separate classes, Austrian, Philipp Eng was confident ahead of the race this afternoon, saying: "Our Gentlemen drivers in the MRS team can be happy with our performance, we did well. I hope for my teammates that we will be on the podium today."

The Blancpain Racing team has withdrawn their two #24 and #125 entries for the race this afternoon as a mark of respect to Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo driver, Andrea Mamé, who lost his life in a tragic first lap accident this morning.