WEC Brazil: Stevens leads front-row lockout for Cadillac, Toyota struggles

Will Stevens pipped Jack Aitken in the final moments of qualifying to lead a front-row lockout for Cadillac at the World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Brazil.

Aitken appeared on course to take pole position in the #38 Jota Cadillac V-Series.R after topping the opening segment of qualifying and finding another four tenths in Hyperpole.

But moments after the Briton pulled into the pits at the end of Q2, Stevens posted a time of 1m23.041s to put the #12 Cadillac by just 0.048s.

Aitken had to settle for second in what was an ultra-competitive session, with all 10 cars separated by less than six tenths of a second.

Alpine emerged as Cadillac’s closest rival in qualifying, with Victor Martins finishing third-fastest in the #36 A424 and Charles Miles ending up two spots behind in the sister car.

The two Alpines were separated by the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, who could only manage the fourth fastest lap - albeit just 0.094s off pole - after setting the fastest time in the first sector.

Genesis’ strong run at Interlagos continued in qualifying, with Mathieu Jamient grabbing sixth place in the #19 GMR-001, beating the leading Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco. However, Jaminet remains under investigation for impeding another car in Q1.

Malthe Jakobsen dragged the #94 Peugeot 9X8 to Hyperpole and eventually qualified eight, leading the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Harry Tincknell that led most of the session and the #83 AF Corse Ferrari driven by ex-Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica.

The #51 Ferrari was the first car to be knocked out in Q1, despite Antonio Giovinazzi setting a time that was only 0.350s down on Aitken’s pace-setting #38 Cadillac.

Pipo Derani suffered a big lock-up aboard the #17 Genesis in the final minutes of qualifying and ended up 12th, just ahead of Paul di Resta in the #93 Peugeot.

Both Toyotas were eliminated in Q1 less than a month after the Japanese manufacturer’s victory at Le Mans, with Ryo Hirakawa ending up 14th in the best of the two TR010 Hybrids after running wide at Turn 1. Kamui Kobayashi languishing in 16th place in the sister Toyota, behind the #009 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen, while Sheldon van der Linde propped up the timesheets in the #17 BMW.

Only 0.739s separated the 17 Hypercar entries in a closely-fought opening leg of qualifying.

Aston claims LMGT3

#23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Gray Newell, Kobe Pauwells, Jonny Adam

Photo by: Jakob Ebrey

The Heart of Racing claimed its second consecutive LMGT3 pole of the season in Brazil, but it was the #23 crew that topped qualifying this time.

After Grew Newell propelled the #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 into Hyperpole, silver-rated Kobe Pauwels set two laps good enough for pole position, with his best effort putting him two tenths ahead of the chasing pack.

Lin Hodenius ended up as Pauwels’ closest challenger in the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Clemens Schmid ending up another two tenths adrift in the #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3.

Parker Thompson qualified fourth in the #69 WRT BMW M4 GT3, while Ben Tuck made it five different manufacturers in the top five in the #77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3. While the top two drivers had a clear advantage over the rest of the field, Schmid, Thompson and Tuck were separated by just 0.009s in third, fourth and fifth positions.

Ford, BMW and Mercedes all managed to get both their cars into the final part of qualifying, while Porsche and Corvette each had one car progress to Hyperpole, with those entries finishing seventh and 10th respectively.

Grid

All Stats

 

Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Time	km/h
1	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens N. Nato L. Deletraz	Cadillac V-Series.R	1'23.041	186.804
2	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA HYPERCAR	38	E. Bamber S. Bourdais J. Aitken	Cadillac V-Series.R	+0.048 1'23.089	186.696
3	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	F. Makowiecki J. Gounon V. Martins	Alpine A424	+0.067 1'23.108	186.653
4	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	K. Magnussen R. Marciello D. Vanthoor	BMW M Hybrid V8	+0.094 1'23.135	186.592
5	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	A. Felix da Costa C. Milesi F. Habsburg	Alpine A424	+0.127 1'23.168	186.518
6	Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR	19	M. Jaminet P. Chatin D. Juncadella	Genesis GMR-001	+0.300 1'23.341	186.131
7	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	+0.346 1'23.387	186.028
8	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	L. Duval M. Jakobsen T. Pourchaire	Peugeot 9X8	+0.361 1'23.402	185.995
9	Aston Martin THOR Team HYPERCAR	007	H. Tincknell T. Gamble R. Gunn	Aston Martin Valkyrie	+0.537 1'23.578	185.603
10	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	Y. Yifei R. Kubica P. Hanson	Ferrari 499P	+0.584 1'23.625	185.499
11	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	+0.791 1'23.832	185.041
12	Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR	17	A. Lotterer P. Derani M. Jaubert	Genesis GMR-001	+0.943 1'23.984	184.706
13	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	P. di Resta S. Vandoorne N. Cassidy	Peugeot 9X8	+0.969 1'24.010	184.649
14	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	+1.007 1'24.048	184.565
15	Aston Martin THOR Team HYPERCAR	009	A. Riberas M. Sorensen R. De Angelis	Aston Martin Valkyrie	+1.110 1'24.151	184.340
16	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	+1.146 1'24.187	184.261
17	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	R. Frijns R. Rast S. Van Der Linde	BMW M Hybrid V8	+1.180 1'24.221	184.186
18	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	23	G. Newell D. Barrichello J. Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	+10.309 1'33.350	166.174
19	IRON LYNX LMGT3	79	J. Zelger M. Cressoni L. Hodenius	Mercedes AMG GT3	+10.508 1'33.549	165.821
20	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	R. Umbrarescu C. Schmid J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	+10.723 1'33.764	165.440
21	TEAM WRT LMGT3	69	A. McIntosh P. Thompson D. Harper	BMW M4 GT3 Evo	+10.725 1'33.766	165.437
22	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	E. Powell B. Tuck S. Priaulx	Ford Mustang GT3	+10.732 1'33.773	165.425
23	IRON LYNX LMGT3	61	M. Berry R. Andrade M. Martin	Mercedes AMG GT3	+10.832 1'33.873	165.248
24	The Bend Manthey LMGT3	92	Y. Shahin R. Pera R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	+11.028 1'34.069	164.904
25	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	S. Gattuso G. Levorato L. Sargeant	Ford Mustang GT3	+11.240 1'34.281	164.533
26	TEAM WRT LMGT3	32	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3 Evo	+11.285 1'34.326	164.455
27	Racing Team Turkey by TF LMGT3	34	P. Dempsey S. Yoluc C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	+11.571 1'34.612	163.958
28	Manthey DK Engineering LMGT3	91	J. Cottingham T. Boguslavskiy A. Güven	Porsche 911 GT3 R	+11.872 1'34.913	163.438
29	TF Sport LMGT3	33	B. Keating J. Edgar N. Varrone	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	+11.962 1'35.003	163.283
30	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo	+12.071 1'35.112	163.096
31	Garage 59 LMGT3	10	A. Au T. Fleming M. Kirchhofer	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	+12.094 1'35.135	163.056
32	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James Z. Robichon M. Drudi	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	+12.165 1'35.206	162.935
33	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	T. Rompuy H. David E. Masson	Lexus RC F GT3	+12.170 1'35.211	162.926
34	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	21	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo	+12.190 1'35.231	162.892
35	Garage 59 LMGT3	58	A. West F. Gehrsitz B. Goethe	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	+12.221 1'35.262	162.839
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