Porsche took a stunning 1-2-3 in qualifying for tomorrow's WEC 6 Hours of Spa, the second round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship.
The #17 Porsche duo of Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley set times just 0.024s apart to combine an average of 1m54.767s. It ensured that the previous best WEC lap was beaten by over four seconds!
Porsche was in control throughout the 25-minute session which was held in sunny but cool conditions.
“Our laps were within a few hundredths of each other so it was great for the team and I am proud of everyone in the team," said Hartley. "It is not as easy as it looks as these are some of the most complex cars you can race and we have three of them here and it is an amazing achievement for Porsche. To get through our test programme in such a short time is really impressive.”
Joining the #17 Porsche on the front row of the grid, just 0.258 seconds behind, will be the ‘extra’ #19 Porsche entry which was driven by Nico Hulkenberg and Nick Tandy in qualifying today. Third was the #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid crewed by Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.
Audi Sport Team Joest attempted to infiltrate the Porsche trio and occasionally split their opponents' 1-2-3 lock-out. However, the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro ultimately had to settle for fourth place, despite the best efforts of Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler.
The #8 Audi entry, which was driven by Loic Duval and Lucas Di Grassi today, will start just behind in fifth place.
Reigning champions Toyota Gazoo Racing had a tough afternoon and could not join the battle for the top placings. The #1 Toyota TS 040 HYBRID of Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi placed sixth, just ahead of the sister #8 car. The Japanese manufacturer though should be more of a threat over longer stints and on overall race pace tomorrow afternoon.
Again claiming pole in LMP2 was the #26 G-Drive Racing driven by and Sam Bird and Julien Canal. Canal had to dig deep in the final stages of the session after first the #43 Team SARD Morand Morgan and then the #47 KCMG ORECA knocked them off the top position. Canal then posted an excellent 2m08.413s lap to secure the extra point for pole position.
“The guys at G-Drive did a great job today and the car was running really well, much better than in the wet," said Sam Bird. "I’ve got to say that Julien did a great job and for a silver to be that close, his pace was exceptional and this pole is due to him, so a big thank you.”
Starting alongside the LMP2 points leaders tomorrow will be the KCMG ORECA 05-Nissan. The new-look LMP2 car, driven by Matt Howson and Nicolas Lapierre showed excellent straightline speed on the 7.004kms circuit and will be a major threat to the G-Drive Ligiers’ in the race tomorrow.
“It was good and I had two clear laps and we could push as much as we wanted but the balance was not quite how we wanted it but it was better than at the start of the weekend," commented Lapierre. "We have lots of areas to improve as it is so new but step by step we are getting there. We’ll see tomorrow during the race how things evolve particularly on tyre management. We have a very good top speed and I think in traffic this will help us.”
Sadly for KCMG it was later revealed that they lost their qualification times and will thus start from pitlane following post-qualifying scrutineering.
Team SARD Morand marked its WEC debut with a fine third place with Oliver Webb and Pierre Ragues on qualifying duties. This became second after KCMG's penalty was enforced.
After thrilling the crowd with their raw pace and technologically advanced designs, the LMP cars will now be prepared for the all-important second round of the WEC tomorrow, which is scheduled to begin at 14.30.
For all the times from qualifying click here
LMP Press Conference
