Porsche in pole for Qatar 1812
The first Hyperpole session of this season delivered its five first rows of tomorrow’s starting grid with two Porsche 963 in P1 and P3, a Toyota in P2 and a Ferrari in P4.
First row
Matt Campbell took the first Porsche Penske Motorsport pole position in FIA WEC with the #5 Porsche 963. Campbell took over De Vries (Toyota GR010 Hybrid #7) in his very last lap of the Hyperpole with a stunning 1m39.347s lap, 0.164 sec. faster than De Vries.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail (Qatar). Matt Campbell in Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963.
Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #5): “The first pole position for the Porsche 963 in the FIA WEC hypercar class – a perfect start and extremely important for the first race of the season. It’s important to be ahead of everyone else and have as much of a free run as possible. Strategy will play a significant role in the ten-hour race in Qatar. I’m really thrilled about my first pole in the world championship!” Source: Porsche
Despite carrying more Balance of Performance weight than last season in his #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, Nick De Vries managed to get a front row for Toyota.
A determined team effort following the challenging Prologue and Thursday free practice sessions brought the #7 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi in second place on the grid for tomorrow’s 10-hour race.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail (Qatar). Nick De Vries with Toyota GR011 Hybrid #7.
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “I think we are all a little bit surprised by our performance. I am very happy to be up there at the front in our first qualifying of the season, especially after a tough week for everyone during the Prologue and then free practice. The whole team has worked really hard to find improvements and now we have to put it together for the race. Ten hours is a long race, so we need to be clean in our execution, but it is good to be starting from the front.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing
Second row
A second Porsche 963 will start from second row, just behind Campbell thank Callum Ilott who drove the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche to P3 in this Hyperpole session.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail (Qatar). #12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963
Callum Ilott (Porsche 963 #12): “Third place was great. However, I know I could’ve done more so I’m a little disappointed. Of course, we’re pleased with our grid position. Let’s see what we can do in the terrific Hypercar field. I’m super excited about the first race of the season.” Source: Porsche
Antonio Fuoco clocked the fourth fastest time in the #50 499P, alongside teammates Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail (Qatar). #50 Ferrari 499P
Antonio Fuoco: « Qualifying and Hyperpole were tricky sessions for us, but we gave it our all. At the end of the day, I’m happy because we managed to push, making the most of every minute on the track and improving our lap times. As for the race, we're starting from a strong position, but we know it will be difficult, and we’ll have to approach it with great care, also given that in the first five hours, here in Lusail, we'll face hot temperatures that will drop by several degrees in the final phase. » Source: Ferrari
Hyperpole results
Source: FIA WEC
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📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail (Qatar). Cadillac and Aston Martin fastest in practice 3.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail (Qatar). Estre tops Thursday practices.
📷 © Courtesy of Lamborghini. Ferrari AF Corse gathering data.
📷 Courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing. Difficult prologue for Toyota
