Fuji WEC: Project 1 Porsche loses pole over door fixing screw issue
The Project 1 Porsche driven by Ben Keating and Felipe Fraga has been stripped of its GTE Am class pole position for this weekend's Fuji World Endurance Championship round
Keating and Fraga had taken GTE Am pole by less than a tenth of a second in the #57 Porsche 911 RSR they share with Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The trio will now be forced to start from the back of the grid in Sunday's race after a breach of the technical regulations was uncovered by scrutineers.
A stewards' bulletin stated that the #57 car's "quick door release system is not in compliance with the homologation form", noting that "the fixing screw of the door was missing".
The punishment was the deletion of all lap times set by Keating and Fraga.
The exclusion promotes the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Jonathan Adam to GTE Am pole, ahead of the Silverstone-winning AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard.
Keating, Fraga and Bleekemolen were forced to start last month's Silverstone opener from the pits after an engine problem preventing them from taking part in qualifying, going to finish a lapped 10th in class.
Earlier this year, they had their GTE Am victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours taken away when Keating's self-entered Ford GT was found to have a non-compliant fuel tank.
Revised starting grid
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m25.013s | - |
2 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m25.803s | 0.790s |
3 | LMP1 | B.Senna, G.Menezes, N.Nato | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 1m26.163s | 1.150s |
4 | LMP1 | L.Ghiotto, B.Hanley, E.Orudzhev | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | 1m26.820s | 1.807s |
5 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m29.302s | 4.289s |
6 | LMP2 | P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, O.Jarvis | United Autosports | ORECA/Gibson | 1m29.787s | 4.774s |
7 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, A.F.da Costa, A.Davidson | JOTA | ORECA/Gibson | 1m29.792s | 4.779s |
8 | LMP2 | M.Patterson, K.Yamashita, A.Fjordbach | High Class Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m30.073s | 5.060s |
9 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, A.Borga, A.Coigny | COOL Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m30.087s | 5.074s |
10 | LMP2 | T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues | Signatech Alpine Elf | Alpine/Gibson | 1m30.858s | 5.845s |
11 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries | Racing Team Nederland | ORECA/Gibson | 1m30.935s | 5.922s |
12 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto | Cetilar Racing | Dallara/Gibson | 1m31.342s | 6.329s |
13 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, R.Lietz | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m37.356s | - |
14 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m37.397s | - |
15 | GTE Pro | M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m37.466s | - |
16 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m37.792s | - |
17 | GTE Pro | A.Lynn, M.Martin | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m37.820s | - |
18 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m37.935s | - |
19 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam | TF Sport | Aston Martin | 1m38.821s | - |
20 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m38.850s | - |
21 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, D.Turner, R.Gunn | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m38.917s | - |
22 | GTE Am | E.Perfetti, D.H.Hansson, M.Cairoli | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 1m39.022s | - |
23 | GTE Am | S.Hoshino, A.De Leener, T.Preining | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 1m39.025s | - |
24 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m39.291s | - |
25 | GTE Am | C.Ried, R.Pera, M.Campbell | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 1m39.549s | - |
26 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, A.Watson, B.Barker | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 1m39.610s | - |
27 | GTE Am | M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, K.Cozzolino | MR Racing | Ferrari | 1m39.628s | - |
28 | GTE Am | B.Grimes, J.Mowlem, C.Hollings | Red River Sport | Ferrari | 1m39.889s | - |
29 | LMP1 | C.Robertson, M.Simpson, G.Smith | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | - | - |
30 | GTE Am | B.Keating, F.Fraga, J.Bleekemolen | Team Project 1 | Porsche | - | - |
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