Sean Gelael took LMGT3 pole position during qualifying for the FIA World Endurance Championship‘s Qatar 1812 km season-opener.
United Autosports claimed their second ever front-row knockout, consecutively, after first doing so for the LMGT3 class in Bahrain last year.
The team got themselves in the top LMGT3 class spots for the race which will take place over the course of 10 hours.
One key change for qualifying this year is the fact that the FIA Bronze-graded drivers are required to participate in the first session, then their silver-rated team-mates will take over for the Hyperpole shoot-out.
Both the LMGT3 category and the Q1-Q2 qualifying format debuted last year for the full-season, though it was solely on the Bronze drivers to fulfil qualifying duties.
The medium Goodyear was the select tyre compound of choice for all contending with a brisk 15 degree Celsius ambient temperature and 18 for the Lusail International Circuit’s track surface.
During the initial 12-minute session, the pressure was on the 18 Bronze-driven LMGT3s to secure a place within the top-10 to continue to the 10-minute Hyperpole session.
Reigning champions Manthey and their #92 Porsche 911 LMGT3.R driver Ryan Hardwick lost out on a Hyperpole spot by just 0.066 seconds to his former team Proton Competition.
United Autosports and McLaren showcased promising form with both cars in the 1-2 positions after taking 1-3 in Q1.
McLaren United 1-2 as Akkodis ASP take P3
Sean Gelael fronted the effort, pushing his #95 McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO to the edge of the track limits, even taking out a small Michelin advertising board.
The Indonesian set a 1:54.239 lap time ahead of Sebastien Baud’s 1:54.478 in the #59 McLaren.
Finn Gehrsitz put a strong effort for the #78 ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 for third with a 1:54.484.
AF Corse claimed fourth and fifth places as Francesco Castellacci set a 1:54.594 in the #54 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 in front of Simon Mann’s #21 Ferrari (1:54.609).
Clemens Schmid put the #87 Lexus in sixth place (1:54.658) ahead of the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 EVO driven by Zach Robichon (1:54.755).
Valentino Rossi finished in eighth place for the #46 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO as TF Sport’s Rui Andrade and Proton Competition’s Gianmarco Levorato rounded out the top-10.
See the full qualifying results here. The race start will commence on Friday 28 February from 14:00 local time or 11:00 UTC.
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