WEC: Porsche sweeps front row at Silverstone

Mark Webber on pole

Porsche will start Sunday's Six Hours of Silverstone from the front row as the German manufacturers put it to the Japanese (last year's champions) in qualifying, but could they beat them in the race?

Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber took their No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid to a best two-lap average of 1:39.721, outpacing their sister entry by more than six-tenths in the revised-for-2015 qualifying format.

It marked a dominant run for the second-year LMP1 operation, capitalizing on the single-lap advantage of its 8 MJ hybrid system, and also using two sets of tires, another new option allowed this year.

Hartley and Webber will share driving duties with Timo Bernhard in Sunday's opening round.

Neel Jani and Romain Dumas combined for a 1:40.340 average in their No. 18 Porsche, which edged out the Oliver Jarvis and Lucas Di Grassi-qualified No. 8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro by just 0.012 seconds.

The No. 1 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima was 0.030 seconds further back in fourth, while the No. 7 Audi, qualified by Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler, completed the top-five.

TOYOTA Racing will begin the new World Endurance Championship season from the second and third rows of the grid after a close qualifying session for the Six Hours of Silverstone.

The #1 TS040 HYBRID of last year’s Silverstone winners Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi, alongside Kazuki Nakajima, will start from fourth place after missing out on a front row start by just 0.042secs. The #2 car of Alex Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway took sixth.

WEC features a slightly revised qualifying format for this season. Two drivers from each car must set a minimum of one flying lap each, with the grid decided by the average of each driver’s fastest lap.

In the #1, Anthony started the session and set one flying lap before handing over to Kazuki, who clocked his best time on the first of his two laps.

Stephane was at the wheel of the #2 when the green flags waved and he consistently improved his time over three flying laps before handing over to Mike who also set his fastest time on the final effort of a three-lap stint.

The 20-minute session saw all three LMP1 manufacturers battling for grid position and hinting at an exciting race to come tomorrow. Both Porsche cars will start from the front row and TOYOTA Racing congratulates them on their achievement.

Nevertheless, TOYOTA Racing heads into tomorrow’s six-hour race in confident mood after showing encouraging pace over race stints. The race begins at midday local time.

Full qualifying results for the opening round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship, the Silverstone 6 Hours, UK.

1. Webber/Hartley/Bernhard GER Porsche 919 Hybrid 1m 39.721s LMP1
2. Dumas/Jani/Lieb GER Porsche 919 Hybrid 1m 40.340s LMP1
3. Jarvis/Duval/di Grassi GER Audi Sport Joest R18 e-tron 1m 40.352s LMP1
4. Davidson/Buemi/Nakajima JPN Toyota TS040 Hybrid 1m 40.382s LMP1
5. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer GER Audi Sport Joest R18 e-tron 1m 41.153s LMP1
6. Wurz/Sarrazin/Conway JPN Toyota TS040 Hybrid 1m 41.694s LMP1
7. Yacaman/Gonzalez/Derani RUS G-Drive Ligier Nissan 1m 48.021s LMP2
8. Rusinov/Bird/Canal RUS G-Drive Ligier Nissan 1m 48.083s LMP2
9. Howson/Bradley/Tandy HKG KCMG Oreca 05 Nissan 1m 49.389s LMP2
10. Panciatici/Chatin/Cappillaire FRA Signatech Alpine Nissan 1m 50.559s LMP2
11. Liuzzi/Trummer/Klien ROU ByKolles CLM P1/01 AER 1m 50.622s LMP1
12. Sharp/Dalziel/Heinemeier-Hansson USA ESM HPD-ARX 03b 1m 51.551s LMP2
13. Leventis/Kane/Watts GBR Strakka DOME Nissan 1m 53.457s LMP2
14. Nicolet/Merlin/Maris FRA OAK Ligier Nissan 1m 53.806s LMP2
15. Brown/Brabham/Fogarty USA ESM HPD-ARX 03b 1m 55.491s LMP2
16. Sorensen/Thiim/Nygaard GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage 1m 59.970s GTE Pro
17. Macdowall/Stanaway/Rees GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 2m 00.175s GTE Pro
18. Turner/Mucke GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 2m 00.333s GTE Pro
19. Lietz/Christensen GER Porsche Team Manthay 911 2m 00.651s GTE Pro
20. Bruni/Vilander ITA AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia 2m 00.701s GTE Pro
21. Pilet/Makowiecki/ GER Porsche Team Manthay 911 2m 01.591s GTE Pro
22. Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 2m 01.998s GTE Am
23. Rigon/Calado ITA AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia 2m 02.156s GTE Pro
24. Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi GER Proton-Abu Dhabi Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 2m 03.134s GTE Am
25. Perrodo/Collard/Aguas ITA AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia 2m 03.428s GTE Am
26. Shaytar/Basov/Bertolini RUS SMP Ferrari 458 Italia 2m 04.114s GTE Am
27. Goethe/Hall/Castellacci GBR Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 2m 05.050s GTE Am
28. Dempsey/Long/Seefried GER Proton-Dempsey Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 2m 06.024s GTE Am
29. Roda/Ruberti/Poulsen FRA Larbre Chevrolet Corvette C7.R No time GTE Am