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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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