Kobayashi puts Toyota on pole
Hot News World Endurance Championship

WEC: Kobayashi puts Toyota on pole at Monza

Posted by AR1 staff

Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi edged out Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco for pole position ahead of this weekend’s Monza round of the WEC World Endurance Championship.

Kobayashi steered the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to a time of 1:35.358 to notch up his second pole of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, while Fuoco split the Japanese cars to put the No. 50 Ferrari 499P on the front row.

However, the Italian driver marginally missed out on delivering a popular home-soil result for Ferrari by just 0.017 seconds.

The #51 Ferrari will start 2nd

Kamui Kobayashi set the fastest ever Hypercar lap of the legendary Italian circuit, 1min 35.358secs, to take pole by just 0.017secs in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and José María López.

Brendon Hartley completed a successful afternoon for the team by earning third place, only 0.102secs from pole, in the #8 GR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.

LMP2

In LMP2, Robert Kubica flew to his first career WEC pole driving the No. 41 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson.

The Polish driver, who led the category in Free Practice 2, set successive purple lap times while running on his own and ended up with a 1:39.354 benchmark.

Pietro Fittipaldi was second in the JOTA Oreca, 0.353 seconds down on Kubica, while Phil Hanson jumped to third at the end in the No. 22 United Autosports car.

GTE-Am

Iron Dames driver Sarah Bovy took her second pole of the season in GTE-Am with a time of 1:47.632 behind the wheel of the No. 85 Porsche 911 RSR-19.

Bovy set the pace by a margin of four-tenths, as Ahmad Al Harthy took second for Aston Martin team ORT by TF and Proton Competition Porsche driver Christian Ried who improved right at the end.

Toyota Quotes

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Normally for a six-hour race I always say that pole position doesn’t mean anything. But, coming after Le Mans and with the lap times being so close, getting pole today is brilliant. I am very happy. The traffic wasn’t ideal at the beginning, but I managed to get a clear lap. All Hypercars have been so close here, we couldn’t risk any conservative laps, so I was pushing hard. I was happy in the car, although the track temperature was a bit different compared to this morning which was challenging. The race should be even hotter so it will be interesting in terms of tyre strategy. We have worked hard to understand the degradation and find the best solution. We have a great car this weekend and I’m looking forward to the race, especially in front of the Italian fans. It will be a big battle.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was a very tight session with all the Hypercars and, considering that, we can be somewhat happy with third. The car obviously had the pace for pole, as Kamui showed. He did a good lap and put it all together so congratulations to him. It’s also helpful for the World Championship that he took the point away from our rivals. My lap was a bit compromised because I had another car in front of me on my fastest lap and I lost a bit as when I got too close. But a tenth of a second from pole is nothing and I’m sure everyone out there has a story how they lost a little time here or there. To get both cars into the top three is fantastic and a strong team effort.”

Qualifying Results

Pos

No Drivers

Team

Cat

LMGTE

LMP2

HC

Time

Gap

1

7 M. CONWAY / K. KOBAYASHI / J. LOPEZ

Toyota Gazoo Racing

HYPERCAR H

1:35.358

1:35.358

2

50 A. FUOCO / M. MOLINA / N. NIELSEN

Ferrari AF Corse

HYPERCAR H

1:35.375

1:35.375

0.017

0.017

3

8 S. BUEMI / B. HARTLEY / R. HIRAKAWA

Toyota Gazoo Racing

HYPERCAR H

1:35.460

1:35.460

0.102

0.085

4

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

Peugeot TotalEnergies

HYPERCAR H

1:35.662

1:35.662

0.304

0.202

5

2 E. BAMBER / A. LYNN / R. WESTBROOK

Cadillac Racing

HYPERCAR H

1:35.720

1:35.720

0.362

0.058

6

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

Ferrari AF Corse

HYPERCAR H

1:35.771

1:35.771

0.413

0.051

7

94 L. DUVAL / G. MENEZES / N. MÜLLER

Peugeot TotalEnergies

HYPERCAR H

1:35.780

1:35.780

0.422

0.009

8 5 D. CAMERON / M. CHRISTENSEN / F. MAKOWIECKI Porsche Penske Motorsport

HYPERCAR H

1:35.973

1:35.973

0.615

0.193

9

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

Hertz Team JOTA

HYPERCAR H

1:36.188

1:36.188

0.830

0.215

10

6 K. ESTRE / A. LOTTERER / L. VANTHOOR

Porsche Penske Motorsport

HYPERCAR H

1:36.497

1:36.497

1.139

0.309

11

708 R. DUMAS / O. PLA / N. BERTHON

Glickenhaus Racing

HYPERCAR

1:36.614

1:36.614

1.256

0.117

12

99 G. BRUNI / H. TINCKNELL / N. JANI

Proton Competition

HYPERCAR H

1:36.668

1:36.668

1.310

0.054

13

4 E. GUERRIERI / T. VAUTIER / J. DE OLIVEIRA

Floyd Vanwall Racing Team

HYPERCAR

1:38.089

1:38.089

2.731

1.421

14

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

Team WRT

LMP2

1:39.354

1:39.354

3.996

1.265

15 28 D. HEINEMEIER-HANSSON / P. FITTIPALDI / O. RASMUSSEN JOTA

LMP2

1:39.707

1:39.707

4.349

0.353

16

22 F. LUBIN / P. HANSON / B. HANLEY

United Autosports

LMP2

1:39.790

1:39.790

4.432

0.083

17

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

Vector Sport

LMP2

1:39.887

1:39.887

4.529

0.097

18

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

Inter Europol Competition

LMP2

1:39.894

1:39.894

4.536

0.007

19

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

Team WRT

LMP2

1:39.957

1:39.957

4.599

0.063

20

63 D. PIN / M. BECHE / D. KVYAT

Prema Racing

LMP2

1:39.976

1:39.976

4.618

0.019

21

35 A. NEGRÃO / M. ROJAS / O. CALDWELL

Alpine Elf Team

LMP2

1:40.061

1:40.061

4.703

0.085

22

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

Alpine Elf Team

LMP2

1:40.214

1:40.214

4.856

0.153

23

9 F. UGRAN / B. VISCAAL / A. CALDARELLI

Prema Racing

LMP2

1:40.340

1:40.340

4.982

0.126

24

23 J. PIERSON / G. VAN DER GARDE / O. JARVIS

United Autosports

LMP2

1:40.379

1:40.379

5.021

0.039

25

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

Iron Dames

LMGTE Am

1:47.632

1:47.632

12.274

7.253

26

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

ORT by TF

LMGTE Am

1:48.058

1:48.058

12.700

0.426

27

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

Dempsey – Proton Racing

LMGTE Am

1:48.116

1:48.116

12.758

0.058

28

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

Richard Mille AF Corse

LMGTE Am

1:48.221

1:48.221

12.863

0.105

29

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

GR Racing

LMGTE Am

1:48.464

1:48.464

13.106

0.243

30

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

Corvette Racing

LMGTE Am

1:48.519

1:48.519

13.161

0.055

31

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

AF Corse

LMGTE Am

1:48.599

1:48.599

13.241

0.080

32

21 J. PIGUET / S. MANN / U. DE PAUW

AF Corse

LMGTE Am

1:48.713

1:48.713

13.355

0.114

33

57 T. KIMURA / S. HUFFAKER / K. COZZOLINO

Kessel Racing

LMGTE Am

1:48.962

1:48.962

13.604

0.249

34 56 E. CASTRO / G. MOURA DE OLIVEIRA / M. CAIROLI Project 1 – AO

LMGTE Am

1:49.232

1:49.232

13.874

0.270

35 777 S. HOSHINO / C. STEVENSON / T. FUJII

D’Station Racing

LMGTE Am

1:49.509

1:49.509

14.151

0.277

36 60 C. SCHIAVONI / M. CRESSONI / A. PICARIELLO

Iron Lynx

LMGTE Am

1:49.883

1:49.883

14.525

0.374