Spa WEC: Porsche fills top three on grid
Porsche drivers Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard set laps within two hundredths of each other to secure pole position for round two of the World Endurance Championship at Spa
Hartley set a 1m54.779s and then Bernhard bettered it with a 1m54.755s aboard the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid to end up with a 1m54.767s average.
That put them just under three tenths up on the second-placed Porsche of Formula 1 guest Nico Hulkenberg and Nick Tandy.
Hulkenberg had dropped from second to third after Audi driver Andre Lotterer did a second flying lap in the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, but Tandy improved on his team-mate's 1m55.130s with a 1m54.920s to bring their average to 1m55.025s and jump back to second.
Neel Jani and Marc Lieb also moved ahead of the Audi to secure a qualifying one-two-three for Porsche with an average of 1m55.284s.
Hartley, who had also claimed pole at the Silverstone WEC opener with Mark Webber, said: "Three cars on top when we are running three cars for the first time is not as easy as everyone is saying - the team did a great job today."
Bernhard added: "Two poles in a row is good, but the important thing is to get points tomorrow after our retirement at Silverstone, so we are up there fighting for the championship."
Fassler followed up on Lotterer's 1m55.114s with a 1m55.967s, which left them with a 1m55.640s average and dropped them to fourth position.
Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval were fifth with an average almost exactly a second behind after experiencing problems with their Audi's electronic systems.
Best Toyota was the #1 TS040 HYBRID shared by Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi, who both set laps in the 1m57s bracket to end up with a 1m57.487s average.
All the LMP1 factory cars used two sets of Michelins on the abrasive Spa track on which consistent tyre wear will be key in the six-hour race.
The Silverstone-winning LMP2 Ligier-Nissan JSP2 from G-Drive Racing took class qualifying honours with Sam Bird and Julien Canal.
They ended up with a 2m07.761s average, which put them two tenths up on the KCMG ORECA-Nissan 05 shared by Matt Howson and Nicolas Lapierre.
Third fastest was the Team SARD Morand Morgan-Judd/BMW EVO driven by Oliver Webb and Pierre Ragues.
Fastest lap in P2 was set by the Jota Sport Gibson-Nissan 015S in the hands of Harry Tincknell, whose 2m07.074s moved the car he qualified along with Simon Dolan up to fifth in class.
Aston Martin Racing took its second GTE Pro pole of the season, this time with the #99 Vantage GTE driven by Richie Stanaway and Fernando Rees.
Stanaway was the fastest in the first group of drivers with a 2m17.167s and then Rees went faster with a 2m16.642s go give them a pole with a 2m16.840s average.
That put them nearly a tenth up on Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander in the best of the AF Corse Ferraris, which ended up on a 2m16.910s average after Bruni got back in the car for a second run and set the fastest GTE lap to propel the 458 Italia from fourth to second.
That demoted Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner, who finished with a 2m17.231s average, to third.
Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana claimed a second consecutive pole in GTE Am in another works Aston Martin.
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QUALIFYING RESULTS:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m54.767s | - |
2 | LMP1 | N.Hulkenberg, E.Bamber, N.Tandy | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m55.025s | 0.258s |
3 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m55.284s | 0.517s |
4 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m55.540s | 0.773s |
5 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m56.541s | 1.774s |
6 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m57.487s | 2.720s |
7 | LMP1 | A.Wurz, S.Sarrazin, M.Conway | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m57.929s | 3.162s |
8 | LMP1 | F.Albuquerque, M.Bonanomi, R.Rast | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m58.000s | 3.233s |
9 | LMP1 | S.Trummer, V.Liuzzi, C.Klien | Team ByKolles | CLM/AER | 2m07.286s | 12.519s |
10 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, J.Canal, S.Bird | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 2m07.761s | - |
11 | LMP2 | P.Ragues, O.Webb, Z.Amberg | Team SARD Morand | Morgan/SARD | 2m08.055s | - |
12 | LMP2 | G.Yacaman, P.Derani, R.Gonzalez | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 2m08.258s | - |
13 | LMP2 | S.Dolan, M.Evans, H.Tincknell | JOTA Sport | Gibson/Nissan | 2m08.329s | - |
14 | LMP2 | N.Panciatici, P-L.Chatin, V.Capillaire | Signatech Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 2m08.901s | - |
15 | LMP2 | S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.H.Hansson | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/HPD | 2m09.989s | - |
16 | LMP2 | N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane | Strakka Racing | Dome/Nissan | 2m11.655s | - |
17 | LMP2 | E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, J.Fogarty | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/HPD | 2m16.721s | - |
18 | GTE Pro | A.MacDowall, F.Rees, R.Stanaway | Aston Martin Racing V8 | Aston Martin | 2m16.840s | - |
19 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, T.Vilander | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m16.910s | - |
20 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, S.Mucke, R.Bell | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m17.231s | - |
21 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, J.Calado | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m17.526s | - |
22 | GTE Pro | C.Nygaard, M.Sorensen, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m17.757s | - |
23 | GTE Pro | S.Muller, K.Estre | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 2m18.025s | - |
24 | GTE Pro | F.Makowiecki, R.Lietz | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 2m18.038s | - |
25 | LMP2 | J.Nicolet, J-M.Merlin, E.Maris | Oak Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 2m18.487s | - |
26 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m19.578s | - |
27 | GTE Am | G.Roda, P.Ruberti, K.Poulsen | Larbre Competition | Chevrolet | 2m20.694s | - |
28 | GTE Am | C.Ried, K.Al Qubaisi, K.Bachler | Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m21.432s | - |
29 | GTE Am | D.Cameron, M.Griffin, A.Mortimer | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m21.893s | - |
30 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.Aguas | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m21.958s | - |
31 | GTE Am | V.Shaytar, A.Bertolini, A.Basov | SMP Racing | Ferrari | 2m22.909s | - |
32 | GTE Am | P.Dempsey, P.Long, M.Seefried | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m23.303s | - |
33 | GTE Am | F.Castellacci, R.Goethe, S.Hall | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m24.519s | - |
34 | LMP2 | M.Howson, R.Bradley, N.Lapierre | KCMG | ORECA/Nissan | - | - |
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