LMGT3 polesitter Sean Gelael told media that he expected his McLaren 720S GT3 Evo to have more grip in qualifying for the FIA World Endurance Championship season opener in Qatar.
“The lap itself was good,” he said.
“I was expecting to have more grip, but I didn’t.
“But anyways, it was a good lap. I think it’s a good first qualifying, getting nerves out with everyone in the team.
“It’s a 1-2, so we’re really happy for that. I’m happy for the guys, we worked a lot in pre-season and also in prologue, to deliver, even though it’s only qualifying.
“I know it’s for show. But we have a 10 hour race and I’m also really excited for that, so we’re happy and hopefully we can bring the 1-2 home.”
Gelael is new to McLaren and the United Autosports team, joining them over the winter after racing with WRT and BMW last year. He is driving the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, alongside Darren Leung and Marino Sato.
Grip a consistent theme for BMW refugees at McLaren
Leung is also new to the team, having similarly moved across from BMW to the United Autosports-run McLaren setup. Indeed, he and Gelael raced the same car last year, the #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3, and are adapting to the new machinery that they sit behind the wheel of.
In the new LMGT3 qualifying format, the bronze driver — Leung in this case — qualified the car first, and if they got through to the Hyperpole session, the silver driver — Gelael — took over for the pole shootout.
In consistency with Gelael, Leung was also surprised with the grip levels in the McLaren.
“It took a huge amount of adaptation really from the BMW,” he said.
“I’m really surprised with how kind this car is on the rear tyres. So I really struggled getting tyre tire temp in the rear.
“On my first lap, I was just fully crossed up everywhere and just sort of knew how to drive through that and try and save a little bit for the next two laps. Then it seemed to build nicely and I was reasonably happy with the lap,” he finished.
The McLarens will start 1-2 tomorrow on the grid, with James Cottingham and Sebastien Baud qualifying the sister #59 car second. The race begins 14:00 local time, 11:00 UTC. See the full qualifying results here.
