The Silverstone Heat qualifying sessions took place on Friday afternoon, 12 September, at the legendary British circuit. At the conclusion of the opening session, interrupted by a red flag stoppage, Brandon McCaughan, returning to the Ligier European Series this season after a one-off appearance at Portimão in 2024, claimed his first pole position behind the wheel of the #1 Team Virage Ligier JS P4. In Ligier JS2 R, Lukas Papin took his third pole position in the #18 VSF Sports entry.
The second qualifying session saw a women take pole position for only the second time in series history. Hamda Al Qubaisi, driving the #88 Team Virage Ligier JS P4, scored her maiden pole position. In the JS2 R category, Simone Riccitelli in the LR Motorsport #7 Ligier JS2 R secured his fifth pole position of the season.
JS P4: Double pole position for Team Virage
The first qualifying session was interrupted for a few minutes by a red flag stoppage following the crash of the #27 Team Virage Ligier JS P4. When the session resumed, Brandon McCaughan, in the #1 Team Virage Ligier JS P4, showed his speed on his return to the series and clinched his first-ever pole position with a lap of 2m04.182s. The #3 from LR Motorsport, driven by Pietro Ferri, finished second in 2m04.340s. Maxwell Dodds, at the controls of the #6 of ANS Motorsport, was third in 2m04.479s.
In the second session, it was a different outcome with Hamda Al Qubaisi outpacing the field in the #88 Team Virage Ligier JS P4 to win the pole position with a lap of 2m03.312s. It is only the second time in the history of the championship that a women has claimed pole position (after Cindy Gudet in a Ligier JS2 R, at Mugello last season), thus giving her team its second pole position of the day. Kristian Brookes, in the 360 Competition #33 Ligier JS P4, was second overall and first in the PRO-AM category on home soil, as was his teammate Christopher Preen in the first session. The Team Virage #1 Ligier JS P4, driven by series rookie Léo Samy Robinson, finished third.
In the AM class, David Caussanel, behind the wheel of the #16 Pegasus Racing Ligier JS P4, will lead the AM class off the grid in Race 1, while Jacques Nicolet was fastest in the second session in the #58 HP Racing by MRacing Ligier JS P4.
Brandon Mccaughan, Team Virage, Ligier JS P4 #1, Pole position, Race 1:
“It’s my second time driving the Ligier JS P4. I was at Portimão last year, but I didn’t have a chance to drive it since then. We had to get to grips with the car this morning. I’m very happy to take pole position. This is what I was hoping for coming into today. After not having much time to get reacquainted with the car, I’m very happy. I know Silverstone well; I’ve raced here a couple of times. Leo did a great job too. It’s his first time here with Ligier, qualifying third. Looking good for tomorrow.”7
Hamda Al Qubaisi, Team Virage, Ligier JS P4 #88, Pole position, Race 2 :
“I’m really happy with the pace. I think this track is a very special one to me. I feel like it suits my driving style. It’s very high speed and long corners, which I really like. This is my first time driving at Silverstone. I think now this is my favorite track! I’m happy to be able to put the car up there, and my sister and I are both very happy. We did a top 5 in Qualifying 1 and P1 in the second. So really happy and looking forward to tomorrow. I was praying for dry and I got it. I’ll pray for dry again tomorrow, and hopefully it will be dry again.”
JS2 R: VSF Sports and LR Motorsport at the sharp end of the order
At the close of the first 15 minutes, Lukas Papin, driving the #18 VSF Sports Ligier JS2 R, took pole position with a lap clocked in 2m10.293s. Simone Riccitelli in the #7 LR Motorsport Ligier JS2 R, followed his French rival with a lap of2m10.358s. August Therbo, driving the #57 23Events Racing Ligier JS2 R, was third fastest at 2m12.167s.
Simone Riccitelli dominated the second qualifying session, behind the wheel of the #7 LR Motorsport Ligier JS2 R, to take his fifth pole position of the campaign, with a time of 2m09.721s. August Therbo finished second in the #57 23Events Racing Ligier JS2 R in 2m10.811s, followed by Steven Palette in the #18 VSF Sports entry in 2m10.892s.
In the PRO-AM category, Jordan and Alain Meyer led both sessions in the #94 of Pegasus Racing. Florian Teillais and Tristan Clay, in the #41 from VSF Sports, secured both pole positions of the day in the AM category.
Lukas Papin, VSF Sports, Ligier JS2 R #18, Pole position, Race 1:
“It’s a discovery driving on the Silverstone circuit. So of course there was a lot of work to do in FP1. In FP2, since it was damp, it was tricky to get settled. So in qualifying we had to put everything together all at once. It wasn’t the easiest session! But I really love the track. You can push like crazy, it’s super wide so it’s a lot of fun. I managed to put the lap together at the right moment, on the last lap after the red flag. I’m really happy. The gap with my rivals is small. It’s really rewarding to know that you have to put everything together to take pole. Now there are still two races to go, so we’ll focus on scoring points and we’ll see!”
Simone Riccitelli, LR Motorsport, Ligier JS2 R #7, Pole position, Race 2:
“First time here in my driver’s career. I like the track a lot. Since the first laps this morning, the feeling was great. Even in the wet during Free Practice 2, we were very fast. In Qualifying 1, we weren’t sure we could push 100%. But the track was fully dry for Qualifying 2. Now, full focus on tomorrow.”
The one-hour Race 1 starts tomorrow at 9:00 am local time. The second one-hour race gets underway at 1:05 pm local time. Both races will be streamed live on the series’ YouTube channel and social media accounts.
CLICK HERE for the qualifying 1 results.
CLICK HERE for the qualifying 2 results.
Photo credit: DPPI
