Porsche took a stunning 1-2-3 in qualifying for the 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.
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. Third was the #18 919 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 , 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.
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.
Starting alongside the LMP2 points leaders will be the KCMG ORECA 05-Nissan. The new-look LMP2 car, driven by Matt Howson and Nicolas Lapierre showed excellent straight line speed on the 7.004kms circuit and will be a major threat to the G-Drive Ligiers’ in the race.
Team SARD Morand marked its WEC debut with a fine third place with Oliver Webb and Pierre Ragues on qualifying duties.
The no99 and no98 Aston Martin Vantages took pole position in LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am respectively. It is the British marque’s 10th double pole position in the WEC.
After torrential rain yesterday it was with much relief that the 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit remained dry for qualifying. Richie Stanaway took control of the session with an early 2m17.167 lap which he improved to 2m17.039 before heading to the pits to hand over to Fernando Rees. The Brazilian put in a 2m16.642 lap, the fastest single lap of qualifying at the point, to put the no99 in control with an average time of 2m16.840.
The no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni was down the running order before the Italian handed over to Toni Vilander who set a good time. The Finn came back into the pits to hand the car back to Bruni. The reigning world champions played a blinder as Bruni set the fastest lap of the session, a 2m16.420 to put the no51 458 into second place on the GTE Pro grid and pushing the no97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke.
After setting the fastest times in the wet free practice sessions yesterday the two Porsche Team Manthey 911s couldn’t match the pace of the Ferrari and Aston Martin. The two cars ended up at the back of the Pro grid with the no91 car just ahead of the no92 911.
In LMGTE Am it was a battle between no98 Aston Martin Vantage and no50 Labre Competition Corvette and it was the Vantage of Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana after the Canadian set a 2m21.185 lap to give the car an average time of 2m19.578, two seconds ahead of the no50 Chevrolet of Paola Ruberti and Gianluca Roda. The no88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 of Christian Ried and Klaus Bachler set the third fastest time, just ahead of the fastest Ferrari, the no55 AF Corse run 458 of Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin.
1 17 T. BERNHARD / M. WEBBER / B. HARTLEY Porsche Team LMP1 H 1:54.767 1:54.767
2 19 N. HÜLKENBERG / E. BAMBER / N. TANDY Porsche Team LMP1 H 1:55.025 1:55.025 0.258 0.258
3 18 R. DUMAS / N. JANI / M. LIEB Porsche Team LMP1 H 1:55.284 1:55.284 0.517 0.259
4 7 M. FÄSSLER / A. LOTTERER / B. TRÉLUYER Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 H 1:55.540 1:55.540 0.773 0.256
5 8 L. DI GRASSI / L. DUVAL / O. JARVIS Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 H 1:56.541 1:56.541 1.774 1.001
6 1 A. DAVIDSON / S. BUEMI / K. NAKAJIMA Toyota Racing LMP1 H 1:57.487 1:57.487 2.720 0.946
7 2 A. WURZ / S. SARRAZIN / M. CONWAY Toyota Racing LMP1 H 1:57.929 1:57.929 3.162 0.442
8 9 F. ALBUQUERQUE / M. BONANOMI / R. RAST Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 H 1:58.000 1:58.000 3.233 0.071
9 4 S. TRUMMER / V. LIUZZI / C. KLIEN Team Bykolles LMP1 2:07.286 2:07.286 12.519 9.286
10 26 R. RUSINOV / J. CANAL / S. BIRD G-Drive Racing LMP2 2:07.761 2:07.761 12.994 0.475
11 43 P. RAGUES / O. WEBB / Z. AMBERG Team Sard Morand LMP2 2:08.055 2:08.055 13.288 0.294
12 28 G. YACAMAN / L. DERANI / R. GONZALEZ G-Drive Racing LMP2 2:08.258 2:08.258 13.491 0.203
13 38 S. DOLAN / M. EVANS / H. TINCKNELL Jota Sport LMP2 2:08.329 2:08.329 13.562 0.071
14 36 N. PANCIATICI / P. CHATIN / V. CAPILLAIRE Signatech Alpine LMP2 2:08.901 2:08.901 14.134 0.572
15 30 S. SHARP / R. DALZIEL / D. HEINEMEIER-HANS Extreme Speed Motorsports LMP2 2:09.989 2:09.989 15.222 1.088
16 42 N. LEVENTIS / D. WATTS / J. KANE Strakka Racing LMP2 2:11.655 2:11.655 16.888 1.666
17 31 E. BROWN / J. VAN OVERBEEK / J. FOGARTY Extreme Speed Motorsports LMP2 2:16.721 2:16.721 21.954 5.066
18 99 A. MACDOWALL / F. REES / R. STANAWAY Aston Martin Racing V8 LMGTE Pro 2:16.840 2:16.840 22.073 0.119
19 51 G. BRUNI / T. VILANDER AF Corse LMGTE Pro 2:16.910 2:16.910 22.143 0.070
20 97 D. TURNER / S. MÜCKE / R. BELL Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro 2:17.231 2:17.231 22.464 0.321
21 71 D. RIGON / J. CALADO AF Corse LMGTE Pro 2:17.526 2:17.526 22.759 0.295
22 95 C. NYGAARD / M. SØRENSEN / J. ADAM Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro 2:17.757 2:17.757 22.990 0.231
23 91 S. MÜLLER / K. ESTRE Porsche Team Manthey LMGTE Pro 2:18.025 2:18.025 23.258 0.268
24 92 F. MAKOWIECKI / R. LIETZ Porsche Team Manthey LMGTE Pro 2:18.038 2:18.038 23.271 0.013
25 35 J. NICOLET / J. MERLIN / E. MARIS Oak Racing LMP2 2:18.487 2:18.487 23.720 0.449
26 98 P. DALLA LANA / P. LAMY / M. LAUDA Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Am 2:19.578 2:19.578 24.811 1.091
27 50 G. RODA / P. RUBERTI / K. POULSEN Larbre Competition LMGTE Am 2:20.694 2:20.694 25.927 1.116
28 88 C. RIED / K. AL QUBAISI / K. BACHLER Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing LMGTE Am 2:21.432 2:21.432 26.665 0.738
29 55 D. CAMERON / M. GRIFFIN / A. MORTIMER AF Corse LMGTE Am 2:21.893 2:21.893 27.126 0.461
30 83 F. PERRODO / E. COLLARD / R. AGUAS AF Corse LMGTE Am 2:21.958 2:21.958 27.191 0.065
31 72 V. SHAYTAR / A. BERTOLINI / A. BASOV SMP Racing LMGTE Am 2:22.909 2:22.909 28.142 0.951
32 77 P. DEMPSEY / P. LONG / M. SEEFRIED Dempsey – Proton Racing LMGTE Am 2:23.303 2:23.303 28.536 0.394
33 96 F. CASTELLACCI / R. GOETHE / S. HALL Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Am 2:24.519 2:24.519 29.752 1.216
34 47 M. HOWSON / R. BRADLEY / N. LAPIERRE KCMG LMP2 By Melissa Warren
