What the drivers said after qualifying on Friday at Spa
Views and comments from the drivers after the qualifying sessions for the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Neel Jani – No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid, Porsche LMP Team - 1st
“I actually thought the delta lap time was not correct on the steering wheel read-out! When I saw that we were 2.5s faster than our previous best of the weekend, I couldn't believe it. It was a super lap until the last chicane."
André Lotterer – No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid, Porsche LMP Team - 1st
“Neel did an amazing lap, for me it was smooth, conservative, I didn’t realise there was so much grip. It’s cool that my fastest lap was quicker than my best lap in F1 here! I didn’t think we’d beat the Toyotas as they’ve looked strong all week. The first job is done, the next step is to win the race tomorrow.”
Sébastien Buemi – No.8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID, Toyota Gazoo Racing - 4th
“I did what I could but to be honest we cannot be satisfied with our qualifying. The car felt okay but I’m not happy with the lap times so we will try to improve for the race. I am happy for car #9 to set the fastest lap, they have done a great job this week and Stéphane’s lap was brilliant.”
Stéphane Sarrazin – No.9 Toyota TS050 HYBRID, Toyota Gazoo Racing - 3rd
“We had an amazing car today, it was really flying and I am sure we will have a good car also for the race. I haven’t done a qualifying session since last year so I put myself under a bit of pressure. I did my maximum and it was a quick lap; I really enjoyed it.”
Alex Lynn – No.26 ORECA 07 Gibson, G-Drive Racing - 1st LMP2
“It’s nice to repeat the Silverstone result and get pole. The next step is to finish where we’re starting tomorrow. It was a difficult session with the red flag, it was hard to choose whether we needed to change tyres. We did, as the first only did an out-lap so we thought it would work well as they’d be bedded in for the race.”
Davide Rigon – No.71 Ferrari 488 GTE, AF Corse Ferrari - 1st LMGTE Pro
“We worked a lot to be fast here, it was not easy here in Spa. I’m very happy to be on pole position after a bad race at Silverstone. I want to score good points. The competitors are very close, so strategy will be very important tomorrow.”
Pedro Lamy – No.98 Aston Martin Vantage, Aston Martin Racing - 1st LMGTE Am
“I had a problem with the track limits at the start of the session but we had less grip in that early stage. Paul went out with the used tyres and did a good job and then I got a new set and was able to do that lap which was pleasing. But we have to see for the race as we have used two sets of tyres.”
