Porsche and Cadillac front row at 6 Hours of Spa

WECLMGT3HyperCar

May 10

Porsche and Cadillac in first row

Antonio Fuoco with #50 Ferrari 499P did relegate competition by more than 0,5 sec. but, following post-qualifying and Hyperpole scrutineering at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the Ferrari 499P #50 was found to be around 1 kg under the minimum weight mandated by regulations and disqualified. Porsche 963 #5 and Cadillac V-Series.R #2 will start the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in front row in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Joined by his works driver teammates Michael Christensen and Frédéric Makowiecki, Matt Campbell will start from pole on Saturday with #5 Porsche 963 as he was won the 12 minutes Hyperpole session in 2:03.107.

Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #5): “When I think about where we were initially in the practice sessions here in Spa, I reckon second place in the Hyperpole is a very good result – but we really had to fight to turn things around. Still, we succeeded thanks to great teamwork and cooperation with the sister car. Generally, a position in the front row is a fantastic starting position and, as past races have shown, was often the key to success.” Source: Porsche

The Cadillac V-Series.R #2 will start from first row as Alex Lynn was second of the session in 2:03.115. He nearly secured a pole position, coming up .008 of a second short of the #5 Porsche 963.

Alex Lynn: "For those that didn’t believe, how’s that? Very happy. I think this crew deserved the good qualifying showing that we put together. Now we’re just determined to get a good race result with this No. 2 Cadillac that the team deserves. Very proud of everyone today and look forward to tomorrow. We worked day and night to improve this car since Imola and we won’t stop until it’s over. And we found a lot of stuff overnight that helped us in these sessions and should help us in the race.” Source: Cadillac Racing

Three Porsche 963 follow

Porsche takes the next 3 positions on the grid with Julien Andlauer qualifying Proton Competition’s Porsche 963 in fourth place – the best Hyperpole result for the German team to date. The former Porsche Junior shares the cockpit with Neel Jani. Callum Ilott finished fourth with Hertz Team Jota #12; he teams up with Will Stevens. Kévin Estre qualified the Porsche Penske Motorsport #6 in fifth place and tackles the race from the third row with André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor..

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 963 #99): “This time we managed to work our way through the test schedule more systematically during the free practice sessions and prepare for the qualifying. Even the baseline setup was better. Since Qatar, I’ve seen significant progress, also in terms of performance over longer distances. So I’m delighted that we made it into the Hyperpole and finished fourth there. We’ll now tweak a couple of things to prepare for the race and then hope for a good result.”
Callum Ilott (Porsche 963 #12): “That was a solid qualifying for us. I immediately felt that our Porsche 963 was strong. The field is very close so we worked hard to bring every single element together. Our goal was to advance into the Hyperpole. We could have extracted more from the tyres and been closer to the front but I’m satisfied with fifth on the grid.”
Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): “I’m not completely happy with sixth place – things could’ve gone better for us. The first qualifying was extremely close. We used a different tyre compound in the Hyperpole, which affected the car’s balance and I couldn’t quite pull it all together on the first lap when it mattered most. Pole position was out of reach for us today but we could’ve qualified a little further up the front. Now we have a long race ahead of us. In Qatar, we started from fifth place and won...” Source: Porsche

One Toyota in the top 10

Despite being a promising second during qualifying, Brendon Hartley ended the Hyperpole in P6 and will start from third row. With overtaking possible at Spa, and tyre degradation set to be a major challenge, drivers, engineers and mechanics from both cars will fight hard against the 19-strong Hypercar field, to make up positions and earn strong World Championship points from the race

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “Qualifying seventh wasn’t the result we wanted but I am proud of our team. We had a really good car on the medium tyre in qualifying. It was a very nice lap, and I was pleased to finish that session in second. In Hyperpole we all had to use the soft tyre and I wasn’t as happy with the car. We haven’t used that tyre for a very long time. I was a bit surprised some cars could repeat their lap time from qualifying, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t a clean lap, but in the end, we did all we could. I am happy with how the car felt on the medium tyres so that gives me some confidence heading into the race.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing

1st Hyperpole for Alpine Endurance

Charles Milesi got his Alpine A425 in P7 of hyperpole.

Third privateer in top 10

There were three privateer teams who run for the FIA Endurance Trophy Hypercar Teams in the hyperpole with the two Porsche 963 #99 and #12, the third being the AF Corse Ferrari 499P #83

Robert Kubica with AF Corse Ferrari 499P #83 is eight.

1st Hyperpole for BMW M Team WRT

Robin Frijns with BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 rounded out the top 10 being 9th of the session.

Ferrari #50 disqualified

Second fastest lap of the season in Hyperpole for Antonio Fuoco with #50 Ferrari 499P at the Spa World Endurance Championship round in 2:02.600.

After a collision with another car during FP3, the 499P he shares with Molina and Nielsen damaged rear end had to be replaced with a new component, which led to the weight discrepancy discovered on Friday evening.

The Stewards’ decision to delete all the times recorded in the two sessions means that the Maranello Le Mans Hypercar will start from nineteenth position, last in class.

Before being disqualified, ANTONIO FUOCO said: “We did an excellent job today, and I am delighted to start from pole position at the 6 Hours of Spa. Given the rubber compounds available here at Spa, we knew qualifying wouldn’t be easy, but we focused during free practice on understanding how best to manage the tyres. I think this work was visible in qualifying and the Hyperpole. The result is the fruit of the hard work carried out by the entire team over recent weeks and here on track since the first practice session. The race? We know it will be tough, and we recognise the considerable strength of our opponents, but as always, we aim to do our best and achieve a great result.” Source: Ferrari