Sebring WEC: Alonso and Nakajima seal pole for #8 Toyota
Toyota drivers Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima claimed pole position for the Sebring 1000 Miles World Endurance Championship round
Alonso set the fastest time of the 20-minute nighttime session with a 1m40.124s aboard the #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID before Nakajima followed it up with a 1m40.513s.
That gave them a 1m40.318s average, which was just under half a second up on the sister car qualified by Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.
Conway's 1m41.082s left the #7 Toyota nearly a second behind after the first runs before Lopez posted a 1m40.544s right at the end of the session.
The Argentinian had to pull out a quick lap to make it another all-Toyota front row after an off on his previous lap, his time resulting in a 1m40.803s average.
Alonso said: "Definitely it was a nice lap, [I had] a nice feeling with the car.
"There were a couple of tenths here and there, so maybe a 1m39s was possible."
Nakajima added: "Thanks to Fernando's mega lap the only job I had to do was not mess up and put the lap together."
The #17 SMP Racing entry qualified by Stephane Sarrazin and Egor Orudzhev was best of the LMP1 privateers with a 1m42.730s average.
Sarrazin had posted a 1m43.542s to put the BR Engineering BR1 sixth after the first runs, before his team-mate's 1m41.919s vaulted the car up to third.
Thomas Laurent had been third in the #3 Rebellion-Gibson R-13 with a 1m42.640s after the first runs, but Menezes's 1m43.086s dropped the car's average to a 1m42.863s.
The second of the AER-powered BR1s took fifth with a 1m43.005s average from Mikhail Aleshin and Brendon Hartley, while the #1 Rebellion qualified by Mathias Beche and Neel Jani was a further hundredth back in sixth with a 1m43.015s average.
The two Jota-run Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA-Gibson 07s blocked out the top positions in LMP2. Stephane Richelmi set the fastest LMP2 lap of the session - a 1m46.932s - before Gabriel Aubry followed it up with a 1m48.194s.
That gave them a 1m47.558s average, which put them more than half a second up on the 1m48.208s from Will Stevens and David Heinemeier Hansson in the sister car.
Pierre Thiriet and Nicolas Lapierre took third with a 1m48.524s average in the Signatech Alpine ORECA.
Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre took pole for Porsche in GTE Pro.
Christensen was second after the first runs behind Aston Martin driver Alex Lynn with a 1m57.384s, which Estre followed up on with a 1m57.616s after a short interruption for a red flag.
That gave the #92 factory Porsche 911 RSR a 1m57.500s average, which was just over a tenth up on Ganassi Ford drivers Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell.
Priaulx had been sixth after the first runs with a 1m57.495s, before Tincknell's 1m57.735s gave the car a 1m57.615s average that vaulted the car up to second position.
The second of the Ford GTs was third in the hands of Stefan Mucke and Olivier Pla on a 1m57.714s average.
The best of the MTEK BMW M8s qualified by Augusto Farfus and Antonio Felix da Costa was fourth on 1m57.841s.
Antonio Garcia set the fastest GTE Pro time of the session - a 1m57.257s - in the solo factory Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, but the car was only fifth with a 1m57.844s average as Jan Magnussen had been slowest in class after the first runs.
Davide Rigon and Sam Bird were sixth in the best of the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs.
The two Aston Martin Vantage GTEs brought up the rear of the GTE Pro field.
Technical problems prevented Maxime Martin from setting a quick lap in the car he qualified alongside Lynn, leaving them last in class.
Christian Ried and Matt Campbell took pole in GTE Am in the fastest of the Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSRs.
The GTE session was briefly halted after Luiz Perez Companc crashed the Clearwater Racing Ferrari.
Qualifying result
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m40.318s |
2 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 0.485s |
3 | LMP1 | N.Berthon, T.Laurent, G.Menezes | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 2.545s |
4 | LMP1 | S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, S.Sirotkin | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/AER | 2.624s |
5 | LMP1 | M.Aleshin, V.Petrov, B.Hartley | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/AER | 2.687s |
6 | LMP1 | N.Jani, M.Beche, B.Senna | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 2.697s |
7 | LMP1 | H.Hedman, B.Hanley, R.van der Zande | DragonSpeed | BR Engineering/Gibson | 3.970s |
8 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, S.Richelmi | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 7.240s |
9 | LMP2 | D.H.Hansson, J.King, W.Stevens | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 7.890s |
10 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 8.206s |
11 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson | DragonSpeed | ORECA/Gibson | 9.363s |
12 | LMP2 | E.Creed, R.Ricci, G.Jeannette | Larbre Competition | Ligier/Gibson | 10.387s |
13 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, L.Duval | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 10.900s |
14 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 17.182s |
15 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, J.Bomarito | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 17.297s |
16 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla, B.Johnson | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 17.396s |
17 | GTE Pro | A.Farfus, A.F.da Costa, B.Spengler | BMW Team MTEK | BMW | 17.523s |
18 | GTE Pro | J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, M.Rockenfeller | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 17.526s |
19 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | 17.620s |
20 | GTE Pro | M.Tomczyk, N.Catsburg, A.Sims | BMW Team MTEK | BMW | 17.682s |
21 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, G.Bruni | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 17.795s |
22 | GTE Pro | A.P.Guidi, J.Calado, D.Serra | AF Corse | Ferrari | 17.914s |
23 | GTE Pro | M.Sorensen, N.Thiim, D.Turner | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 18.048s |
24 | GTE Am | C.Ried, J.Andlauer, M.Campbell | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 19.472s |
25 | GTE Am | J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 19.617s |
26 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 19.758s |
27 | GTE Am | G.Roda, G.Roda, M.Cairoli | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 20.099s |
28 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, J.Adam, C.Eastwood | TF Sport | Aston Martin | 20.225s |
29 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 20.441s |
30 | GTE Am | M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever | MR Racing | Ferrari | 21.361s |
31 | GTE Pro | A.Lynn, M.Martin | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 24.430s |
32 | GTE Am | L.P.-Companc, M.Cressoni, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 19.078s |
33 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 19.118s |
34 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries | Racing Team Nederland | Dallara/Gibson | - |
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