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Allan McNish gives hybrid Audi e-tron first pole in qualifying for Spa World Endurance Championship round

Allan McNish claimed a debut pole position aboard the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro for Saturday's Spa 6 Hours round of the FIA World Endurance Championship

The Scot set a best time of 2m01.578s on his second flying lap in the hybrid Audi. That put him just over half a second clear of Marco Bonanomi in the best of the non-hybrid R18 ultras.

McNish, who won the opening WEC round at Sebring with Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello, said: "It is quite a big day for Audi because it has given us our first milestone pole with the e-tron technology. It was quite special for me in particular because myself, Dindo and Tom also took the first pole for the Audi diesel car [at Sebring in 2006]."

Audi blocked out the front two rows of the grid. Marcel Fassler ended up third in the second hybrid R18, while Loic Duval was the final Audi qualifier in the second conventional turbodiesel.

Neel Jani headed the petrol-powered privateers in the best of the Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota coupes. His 2m04.234s lap was nearly three seconds slower than the Audi pole time.

Australian John Martin claimed pole position at the head of the 18-car LMP2 field. His time of 2m09.302s in the ADR-Delta ORECA-Nissan 03 gave him the pole by just four hundredths of a second from James Rossiter in the fastest of the Lotus LMP2 team's two Lolas.

GTE Pro honours went to Frederic Makowiecki in the Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia. The Frenchman ended up four tenths ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the lead AF Corse Ferrari.

Imsa Porsche driver Nicolas Armindo pipped Marco Cioci's AF Corse Ferrari to the GTE-Am class pole.

Pos  Cl     Drivers                        Team/Car                     Time
 1.  P1     Capello/Kristensen/McNish      Audi (e-tron)                2m01.579s
 2.  P1     Bonanomi/Jarvis                Audi                         2m02.093s
 3.  P1     Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer      Audi (e-tron)                2m02.232s
 4.  P1     Dumas/Duval/Gene               Audi                         2m02.705s
 5.  P1     Prost/Jani/Heidfeld            Rebellion Lola-Toyota        2m04.234s
 6.  P1     Leventis/Watts/Kane            Strakka HPD                  2m04.636s
 7.  P1     Belicchi/Primat                Rebellion Lola-Toyota        2m05.078s
 8.  P1     Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck      JRM HPD                      2m06.946s
 9.  P1     Bourdais/Minassian             Pescarolo Dome-Judd          2m06.954s
10.  P1     Moreau/Baguette/Kraihamer      OAK Pescarolo-Judd           2m07.504s
11.  P2     Martin/Kerr/Graves             ORECA-Nissan                 2m09.302s
12.  P2     Moro/Weeda/Rossiter            Lotus Lola                   2m09.343s
13.  P2     Dolan/Hancock                  Jota Zytek-Nissan            2m09.634s
14.  P2     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla             OAK Morgan-Judd              2m09.656s
15.  P2     Holzer/Schultis/van der Zande  Lotus Lola                   2m09.833s
16.  P2     Perez Companc/Ayari/Kaffer     ORECA-Nissan                 2m09.965s
17.  P2     Zugel/Gonzalez/Julian          Greaves Zytek-Nissan         2m10.656s
18.  P2     Heinemeir Hansson/Leinders     OAK Morgan-Judd              2m10.875s
19.  P2     Clarke/Briere/Petersen         Boutsen Ginion ORECA-Nissan  2m11.052s
20.  P2     Potolicchio/Dalziel/Sarrazin   HPD ARX 03b-Honda            2m11.185s
21.  P2     Firth/Hughes/Hartley           Murphy ORECA-Nissan          2m11.266s
22.  P2     Panciatici/Ragues/Rusinov      Signatech ORECA-Nissan       2m11.520s
23.  P2     Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry          Race Performance ORECA-Judd  2m11.667s
24.  P2     Mailleux/Lombard/Tresson       Signatech ORECA-Nissan       2m12.078s
25.  P2     Giroix/Jousse/Johansson        Gulf Lola-Nissan             2m14.297s
26.  P2     Fatien/Ihara/Deletraz          Gulf Lola-Nissan             2m15.537s
27.  P2     Thirion/Haezebrouck            Extreme Limite Norma-Judd    2m17.810s
28.  GTE P  Makowiecki/Melo                Luxury Ferrari               2m19.770s
29.  GTE P  Fisichella/Bruni               AF Corse Ferrari             2m20.143s
30.  GTE P  Fernandez/Mucke/Turner         Aston Martin                 2m20.227s
31.  GTE P  Lieb/Lietz                     Felbermayr Porsche           2m20.251s
32.  GTE P  Bertolini/Beretta              AF Corse Ferrari             2m20.885s
33.  GTE A  Armindo/Narac/Pons             Imsa Porsche                 2m21.640s
34.  GTE A  Perazzini/Cioci/Griffin        AF Corse Ferrari             2m21.975s
35.  GTE A  Ehret/Montecalvo/Jeannette     Luxury Ferrari               2m22.062s
36.  GTE A  Bornhauser/Canal/Rees          Larbre Corvette              2m22.534s
37.  GTE A  Belloc/Bourret                 Larbre Corvette              2m22.542s
38.  GTE A  Kauffman/Vickers/Aguas         AF Waltrip Ferrari           2m23.116s
39.  GTE A  Camathias/Palttala/Daniels     JWA Porsche                  2m24.035s
40.  GTE A  Ried/Roda/Ruberti              Felbermayr Porsche           2m25.358s
41.  GTE A  Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo           Krohn Ferrari                2m26.763s

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