In only its third event since switching to the premier Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) category, Drayson Racing earned its first-ever career pole position today in qualifying for this weekend's Asian Le Mans Series' inaugural event at the Okayama (Japan) International Circuit. In four laps Jonny Cocker (Guisborough, Yorks, UK) piloted the No. 87 Drayson Racing Lola with Judd Power to a grid-setting lap of one minute, 19.143 seconds around the 3.7 Km/2.3 mile, 13-turn race course. Cocker and teammate/owner Paul Drayson (London/Gloucestershire, UK) will share the Michelin tyre-shod, closed-cockpit racer in a pair of three hour events 31 October and 1 November which will decide the champion of the 2009 Asian Le Mans Series season.
Whilst the historic ramifications of being in the record book as the first pole winner in the Asian Le Mans Series are momentous, the importance for this weekend is also significant. The double-event weekend held this single, 20-minute qualifying session to set the grid for both of the 136-lap (503.6 Km/312.9 mile)/three hour events. Therefore, by qualifying quickest today, the Dale White (Bozeman, MT, USA)-managed team has actually earned the top starting spot for both Saturday and Sunday's events. The first race will start at 12:30 (GMT+9) tomorrow while the second will take the green flag at 09:00 Sunday. In the balance is the championship as well as an automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, 2010.
To read the race report, please click here.
