Alex Malykin secured the pole position in the LMGT3 category for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Imola. Driving the Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, Malykin dominated the session with a time of 1:42.365. Ian James from The Heart of Racing team finished in second place, behind Malykin by less than seven tenths of a second. Ahmad Al Harthy, representing Team WRT, claimed third place aboard the BMW M4 GT3 #46.
The session began with all 18 cars in the category vying for a spot in the top 10 to advance to the Hyperpole. As bronze-rated drivers warmed up their tires, lap times started to drop rapidly. Yasser Shahin initially set the fastest lap with the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R #91, but was soon surpassed by Ian James in the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 #27. However, Al Harthy and Sarah Bovy from Iron Dames also posted impressive lap times.
In the end, it was Malykin in the Manthey Porsche #92 who claimed pole position with a time of 1:42.734, the fastest lap of the first session. Bovy finished in second place, nearly two tenths behind, followed by Shahin in third. The two AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s, driven by Francois Heriau (#55) and Thomas Flohr (#54), secured fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Unfortunately, Qatar’s pole position holder, Tom Van Rompuy, missed out on the Hyperpole by less than two tenths of a second, finishing in 11th place in the TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3R #81. Other drivers who did not advance to the Hyperpole included Clement Mateu in the D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 #777, Hiroshi Koizumi in the TF Sport Corvette #82, Ryan Hardwick representing Proton, Josh Caygill from United Autosport, Arnold Robin from Akkodis ASP, Takeshi Kimura (Robin’s teammate), and Claudio Schiavoni driving the Iron Lynx Lamborghini.
During the Hyperpole session, Malykhin immediately set the fastest lap, securing his pole position with a time of 1:42.365. None of the other drivers were able to keep up with his pace during the remaining 10 minutes. Ian James finished in second place, followed by Darren Leung from Team WRT in third. Sarah Bovy, driving the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 #85, placed fifth in the session.
