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Spa WEC: Porsche locks out front row in qualifying

Porsche blocked out the top two positions in qualifying for this weekend's Spa round of the World Endurance Championship

Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard took the pole by nearly eight of tenths of second from team-mates Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.

Hartley was quickest of the first group of drivers with a 1m55.691s aboard the #1 919 Hybrid, before Bernhard posted a 1m55.895s to end up with a 1m55.793s average.

Jani was six tenths slower than Hartley and Lieb ended up over a second behind Bernhard on the way to their average of 1m56.590s.

Hartley told Autosport: "The lap didn't feel perfect; I think everyone is fighting the track.

"I got a banker and Timo almost did the same lap time, but the gap over our team-mates surprised us."

Toyota took third spot with the #6 TS050 HYBRID driven by Kamui Kobayashi and Stephane Sarrazin with a 1m57.698s average.

Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval were less than a tenth back in fourth place with a 1m57.716s average aboard their Audi R18 e-tron quattro.

A lap from Rene Rast over half a second faster than anyone else in class gave the German and G-Drive Racing ORECA team-mate Roman Rusinov the LMP2 pole.

Rusinov was initially sixth on a 2m08.407s after having to abort his quickest lap courtesy of a red flag, but a 2m06.748s from Rast vaulted the Jota-run car to the front of the P2 pack.

The Russian subsequently returned to the track to set a 2m07.979s to give them a final average of 2m07.363s.

That put them half a second up on the Signatech Alpine ORECA coupe shared by Gustavo Menezes and Nicolas Lapierre.

The best of the Manor ORECAs qualified by Roberto Merhi and Matt Rao was a further two tenths back in third.

Davide Rigon and Sam Bird again overcame AF Corse Ferrari team-mates James Calado and Gianmaria Bruni at the top of the GTE Pro order.

Rigon was quickest of the first batch of drivers with a 2m17.813s before Bird went quicker with a 2m17.657s to give them a 2m17.644s average.

Calado posted a 2m18.247s and Bruni set two laps in the 2m18s before getting down to a 2m17.835s to lower their average to 2m17.961s.

The best of the Aston Martin Vantage GTEs was just two hundredths back on a 2m17.987s average in the hands of Fernando Rees and Richie Stanaway.

Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana claimed pole in GTE Am for Aston Martin.

QUALIFYING RESULT

Pos Class Driver Team Car Gap
1 LMP1 T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley Porsche Team Porsche 1m55.793s
2 LMP1 R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb Porsche Team Porsche 0.797s
3 LMP1 S.Sarrazin, M.Conway, K.Kobayashi Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1.905s
4 LMP1 L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis Audi Sport Team Joest Audi 1.923s
5 LMP1 A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1.957s
6 LMP1 M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer Audi Sport Team Joest Audi 2.122s
7 LMP1 M.Tuscher, D.Kraihamer, A.Imperatori Rebellion Racing Rebellion/AER 5.754s
8 LMP1 N.Prost, N.Piquet Jr., N.Heidfeld Rebellion Racing Rebellion/AER 6.333s
9 LMP1 S.Trummer, O.Webb, J.Rossiter ByKOLLES Racing Team CLM/AER 7.778s
10 LMP2 R.Rusinov, N.Berthon, R.Rast G-Drive Racing ORECA/Nissan 11.570s
11 LMP2 G.Menezes, N.Lapierre, S.Richelmi Signatech Alpine Alpine/Nissan 12.029s
12 LMP2 M.Rao, R.Bradley, R.Merhi Manor ORECA/Nissan 12.243s
13 LMP2 S.Dolan, G.van der Garde, J.Dennis G-Drive Racing Gibson/Nissan 12.764s
14 LMP2 T.Graves, W.Stevens, J.Jakes Manor ORECA/Nissan 13.100s
15 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, F.Albuquerque, B.Senna RGR Sport by Morand Ligier/Nissan 13.332s
16 LMP2 V.Petrov, K.Ladygin, V.Shaytar SMP Racing BR Engineering/Nissan 13.652s
17 LMP2 R.Dalziel, P.Derani, C.Cumming Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier/Nissan 13.808s
18 LMP2 N.Minassian, M.Mediani, D.Markozov SMP Racing BR Engineering/Nissan 13.832s
19 LMP2 D.Cheng, H-Pin Tung, N.Panciatici Baxi DC Racing Alpine Alpine/Nissan 14.437s
20 LMP2 N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane Strakka Racing Gibson/Nissan 15.367s
21 LMP2 S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van Overbeek Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier/Nissan 17.915s
22 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird AF Corse Ferrari 21.851s
23 GTE Pro G.Bruni, J.Calado AF Corse Ferrari 22.168s
24 GTE Pro R.Stanaway, F.Rees, J.Adam Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 22.194s
25 GTE Pro B.Johnson, S.Mucke, O.Pla Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 22.587s
26 GTE Pro M.Franchitti, A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 22.625s
27 GTE Pro N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, D.Turner Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 22.946s
28 GTE Pro R.Lietz, M.Christensen Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 24.243s
29 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 24.558s
30 GTE Am F.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.Aguas AF Corse Ferrari 26.409s
31 GTE Am K.Al Qubaisi, D.H.Hansson, P.Long Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 26.664s
32 GTE Am M.Wainwright, A.Carroll, B.Barker Gulf Racing Porsche 27.135s
33 GTE Am C.Ried, W.Henzler, J.Camathias KCMG Porsche 27.523s
34 GTE Am Y.Yamagishi, P.Ragues, P.Ruberti Larbre Competition Chevrolet 27.797s


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