Toyota Locks Out Spa Front Row

Pole winning #7 Toyota

Toyota Gazoo Racing locked out the front row of the grid for the next to last round of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.

Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi drove the No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid to its third pole with a two-driver average time of 1:53.747 on a wet track.

Their teammates in the No. 8 Toyota, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi, combined for a 1:54.243 average to go second-quickest and just under half a second shy of pole.

SMP Racing placed third and fifth as No.17 starts ahead of No.11 sister car

It will be fourth and sixth start for Rebellion Racing as the No.1 car eclipsed the No.3 entry in session that saw light rain showers

No. 67 Ford Grabs Second Spa Pole

Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx

Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell drove the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT to pole position at Spa today, taking the extra point for pole and setting themselves up for a strong start to tomorrow’s six-hour World Endurance Championship race. This is the second pole position at Spa for the British duo during the WEC Super Season.

Priaulx combined with Harry Tincknell for an average of 2m12.797s to edge out Aston Martin Racing's Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn by just six-hundredths of a second, with early pace-setter BMW being left to settle for third and fourth in class.

“Today’s result is actually a bit of a surprise!" said Ford WEC Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell. “When we saw the time the BMW did we thought we couldn’t match that but the strategy of doing three runs paid off very well and Andy and Harry both did mega laps, delivering a fantastic result for the team. It’s a shame #66 didn’t quite get the perfect lap but I’m really happy with the team’s performance."

“I’m so pleased with that, I’m shaking!" said Tincknell. “The car felt unbelievable in that session, as if it was running on rails. We’ve had a pretty quick car in the dry all weekend. We tweaked it a bit after each practice session and it still needed a little bit more after the last session this morning and I have to say that Wilks (David Wilcock, Race Engineer) and the engineering team hit the nail right on the head.

“We went all out to get pole today and we’re happy to take the extra point," he continued. “It’s supposed to snow overnight and then it’s supposed to rain but let’s just see what happens tomorrow. We know the car is quick in the dry and we know that if we can turn the tyre on in the wet we have a fast car there too. We’re starting from the front which is always the best view, especially when it is wet!"

A late improvement from Salih Yoluc in the #90 Aston Martin Vantage gave TF Sport pole in GTE-Am, recovering enough time on a second stint in the car to overhaul the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR that had sat on provisional pole.

Weather

Wintry weather is forecast at Spa overnight, which could make for an interesting race day for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

Front-Row Quotes

Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi on pole

Mike Conway (TS050 HYBRID #7): “It was a nice lap. Kamui was quick; he put in a really good lap this morning and again in qualifying. I knew the pressure was on! The car felt strong all through the lap and I was happy to be a little faster at the end. All credit to the engineers and the team for doing such a good job all weekend. Tomorrow is going to be tricky with the conditions so it’s great to start in the right position."

Kamui Kobayashi (TS050 HYBRID #7): “I am very happy to be on pole again. We knew that during my lap there was a high chance of some rain but we had to take the chance when the track was dry. Unfortunately there were a few rain drops just at the end of my lap, in the last corner, so it wasn’t perfect. But it was enough and Mike did a great job. Thanks to him and the team."

Sebastien Buemi (TS050 HYBRID #8): “Car #7 did a good job so congratulations to them; they did very well and it’s nice for the team to be one-two on the grid. We are expecting the weather to be completely different tomorrow. We had a taste of this in second practice on Thursday so we are reviewing all the data from that session to prepare ourselves as well as possible; our focus is on the race."

Kazuki Nakajima (TS050 HYBRID #8): “Considering the showers this afternoon, we were fortunate that we could do our laps pretty much on a dry track. It seemed a little bit harder for our car to set a good qualifying time compared to the sister car but for the team a one-two is the perfect result. We expect challenging weather for the race; we need to make sure we finish and grab as many points as possible."