WEC | Heriau puts Ferrari on LMGT3 second row at Austin

As required by the regulations, the two Bronze-licensed drivers were protagonists in the qualifying session, held on the afternoon of Saturday 31 August on a dry track and with very hot temperatures: 33°C air and 53°C asphalt.

A fourth and eighth place allowed cars Nos. 55 and 54 to access the Hyperpole, where the top ten cars compete for pole position.

In the decisive round, François Heriau, who shares the cockpit of the 296 LMGT3 number 55 with official Ferrari driver Alessio Rovera and Simon Mann, stopped the clock at 2’06”001 which earned him third place, 414 thousandths behind the number 27 Aston Martin which will start from the first spot on the grid.

“Qualifying went quite well, we arrived prepared thanks to the work done in free practice. The track was very hot and we managed to avoid traffic,” explains the Frenchman.

“In the first session the flying laps were good, so we decided to pit early because we were confident of qualifying in the top ten.”

“In Hyperpole the first attempt went very well, I felt really comfortable especially in the second sector, but I lost a couple of tenths because of the traffic.”

“Starting in third position, in any case, is excellent because we are on the inside of the track with respect to the first corner, in a privileged position.”

#54 View AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Sixth time instead for Thomas Flohr in the 54, shared with the other official from the Maranello company Davide Rigon and with Francesco Castellacci, who set his best time of 2’06”312, 725 thousandths from the pole position, in a very balanced session that saw the first eight cars separated by just over a second.

“It was a very hot qualifying session and fortunately we managed to get into Hyperpole. The car is really quick in the more twisty parts of the track and I’m very happy to feel it so glued to the asphalt,” says the Swiss.

“Unfortunately, in the penultimate corner I lost two tenths: I could have done better, but starting in the top six is ​​a good result in view of a long race like Sunday’s.”