WEC: Toyota On Pole At SPA As Ferrari Loses Top Spot

Toyota Gazoo Racing with its #7 entry driven by Kamui Kobayashi will start from the pole position for tomorrow’s TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after qualifying’s fastest driver Antonio Giovinazzi in #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P lost the top spot for track limit violation

The Italian had taken a brilliant pole position with a pole lap of 2m00.77s only to lose it for track limit violation at T7. As a result, Kobayashi slipped down to third, behind his team-mate Miguel Molina.

Antonio Giovinazzi in #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P

The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R entry driven by Earl Bamber went fourth, ahead of the sister car qualified by Sebastien Bourdais that joined the WEC grid this weekend.

Sixth was the best of the Porsches, the #6 official entry driven by Kevin Estre, with the customer car from Hertz Team Jota with Will Stevens aboard in seventh.

Oliver Pla in Glickenhaus Racing grabbed eighth and was the best-placed non-Hybrid Hypercar.

The #93 Peugeot 9X8 of Jean-Eric Vergne qualified ninth, ahead of the #5 Porsche 963 of Frederic Makowiecki, who rounded out the top ten.

The #8 Toyota GR010 did not post a time as Brendon Hartley crashed at Raidillon on his out lap. The points leaders will have to start from the rear of the Hypercar grid tomorrow.

The #23 United Autosports claimed the LMP2 class pole position as returnee Tom Blomqvist shone in the session with a rapid 2m05.979s best lap.

The British driver is yet to drive in a race this season after his car suffered a retirement at Sebring and he missed out on the Portimao round due to his IMSA commitments.

Second on the grid will be the #41 WRT Oreca-Gibson as Louis Deletraz was 0.3s off the pole. Prema Racing was third with #63 car with Daniil Kvyat behind the wheel.

Ahmad Al Harthy in ORT by TF Aston Martin clinched a sensational first pole position with a scorching 2m17.216s lap.

The Omani driver was entire 1.9s faster than second-placed Iron Dames Porsche driven by local ace Sarah Bovy.

Ryan Hardwick completed the best qualifying of the season for the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 and will line up in third position on the LMGTE Am grid.

The session was red-flagged after PJ Hyett in Project 1-AO Porsche 911 RSR-19 crashed at Raidillon.

Qualifying Results

Pos

No Drivers

Team

Cat

Time

Behind/Gap

1

M. CONWAY / K. KOBAYASHI / J. LOPEZ

Toyota Gazoo Racing

HYPERCAR H

2:00.812

0.000/0.000

2

50 A. FUOCO / M. MOLINA / N. NIELSEN

Ferrari AF Corse

HYPERCAR H

2:00.836

0.024 /0.024

3

51 A. PIER GUIDI / J. CALADO / A. GIOVINAZZI

Ferrari AF Corse

HYPERCAR H

2:00.973

0.161/ 0.137

4

E. BAMBER / A. LYNN / R. WESTBROOK

Cadillac Racing

HYPERCAR H

2:01.043

0.231 /0.070

5

S. BOURDAIS / R. VAN DER ZANDE / J. AITKEN

Cadillac Racing

HYPERCAR H

2:02.138

1.326/ 1.095

6

K. ESTRE / A. LOTTERER / L. VANTHOOR

Porsche Penske Motorsport

HYPERCAR H

2:02.306

1.494 /0.168

7

38 A. DA COSTA / W. STEVENS / Y. YE

Hertz Team JOTA

HYPERCAR H

2:02.907

2.095 /0.601

8

708 R. DUMAS / O. PLA / F. MAILLEUX

Glickenhaus Racing

HYPERCAR

2:02.960

2.148 /0.053

9

93 P. DI RESTA / M. JENSEN / J. VERGNE

Peugeot TotalEnergies

HYPERCAR H

2:03.217

2.405/ 0.257

10

D. CAMERON / M. CHRISTENSEN / F. MAKOWIECKI

Porsche Penske Motorsport

HYPERCAR H

2:03.650

2.838

11

94 L. DUVAL / G. MENEZES / N. MÜLLER

Peugeot TotalEnergies

HYPERCAR H

2:03.879

3.067

12

T. DILLMANN / E. GUERRIERI / J. VILLENEUVE

Floyd Vanwall Racing Team

HYPERCAR

2:04.614

3.802

13

23 J. PIERSON / T. BLOMQVIST / O. JARVIS

United Autosports

LMP2

2:05.979

5.167

14

41 R. ANDRADE / R. KUBICA / L. DELÉTRAZ

Team WRT

LMP2

2:06.318

5.506

15

63 D. PIN / M. BORTOLOTTI / D. KVYAT

Prema Racing

LMP2

2:06.506

5.694

16

31 S. GELAEL / F. HABSBURG / R. FRIJNS

Team WRT

LMP2

2:06.532

5.720

17

28 D. HEINEMEIER-HANSSON / P. FITTIPALDI / O. RASMUSSEN

JOTA

LMP2

2:06.556

5.744

18

F. UGRAN / B. VISCAAL / A. CALDARELLI

Prema Racing

LMP2

2:06.601

5.789

19

22 F. LUBIN / P. HANSON / F. ALBUQUERQUE

United Autosports

LMP2

2:06.684

5.872

20

34 J. SMIECHOWSKI / F. SCHERER / A. COSTA

Inter Europol Competition

LMP2

2:06.825

6.013

21

10 R. CULLEN / M. KAISER / G. AUBRY

Vector Sport

LMP2

2:07.035

6.223

22

35 A. NEGRÃO / M. ROJAS / O. CALDWELL

Alpine Elf Team

LMP2

2:07.099

6.287

23

36 M. VAXIVIERE / J. CANAL / C. MILESI

Alpine Elf Team

LMP2

2:07.157

6.345

24

25 A. AL HARTHY / M. DINAN / C. EASTWOOD

ORT by TF

LMGTE Am

2:17.216

16.404

25

85 S. BOVY / M. GATTING / R. FREY

Iron Dames

LMGTE Am

2:19.150

18.338

26

88 R. HARDWICK / Z. ROBICHON / H. TINCKNELL

Proton Competition

LMGTE Am

2:19.481

18.669

27

33 B. KEATING / N. VARRONE / N. CATSBURG

Corvette Racing

LMGTE Am

2:19.506

18.694

28

83 L. PEREZ COMPANC / L. WADOUX / A. ROVERA

Richard Mille AF Corse

LMGTE Am

2:19.723

18.911

29

98 I. JAMES / D. MANCINELLI / A. RIBERAS

Northwest AMR

LMGTE Am

2:19.976

19.164

30

54 T. FLOHR / F. CASTELLACCI / D. RIGON

AF Corse

LMGTE Am

2:20.382

19.570

31

777 S. HOSHINO / C. STEVENSON / T. FUJII

D’Station Racing

LMGTE Am

2:20.507

19.695

32

57 T. KIMURA / S. HUFFAKER / D. SERRA

Kessel Racing

LMGTE Am

2:20.515

19.703

33

77 C. RIED / M. PEDERSEN / J. ANDLAUER

Dempsey – Proton Racing

LMGTE Am

2:21.247

20.435

34

86 M. WAINWRIGHT / R. PERA / B. BARKER

GR Racing

LMGTE Am

2:22.469

21.657

35

60 C. SCHIAVONI / M. CRESSONI / A. PICARIELLO

Iron Lynx

LMGTE Am

2:23.097

22.285

36

56 P. HYETT / G. JEANNETTE / M. CAIROLI

Project 1 – AO

LMGTE Am

37

S. BUEMI / B. HARTLEY / R. HIRAKAWA

Toyota Gazoo Racing

HYPERCAR H

38

21 D. ALESSI / S. MANN / U. DE PAUW

AF Corse

LMGTE Am