It wasn’t the classic nice goodnight kiss that the stewards of the FIA World Endurance Championship delivered to Ferrari, deprived of the Hyperpole after the technical checks.
When everyone had finished dinner and was preparing to go and rest in view of the demanding 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps which will take place on Sunday, here was the twist that made even more darkness fall around the Emilian manufacturer.
The 499P #50 that Antonio Fuoco had put in front of everyone at the end of the second qualifying heat in the Ardennes was found to be 1kg underweight compared to the minimum allowed by the regulations.
The decision was the worst of all for Maranello, meaning the cancellation of every time achieved by Fuoco in both sessions for the assault on the record, with the result that the Red car prepared by AF Corse slipped to the bottom of the Hypercar Class group, finding itself 19th .
From the Prancing Horse they explained the episode as follows: “After a contact with another car during Free Practice 3, on the 499P #50 it was necessary to replace the damaged rear part of the bodywork with a new component. This intervention was underlying the weight divergence found on Friday evening”.
Consequently, in Hyperpole for the race there will be the official Porsche #5 of Team Penske, flanked by the Cadillac and with the private 963s of Proton Competition and Jota behind it.
#95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Joshua Caygill, Nicolas Pino, Marino Sato
Photo by: Marco Losi / KAPPAEMEDIA
The same measure from Ferrari also arrives at United Autosports, with Josh Caygill’s McLaren #95 which was found to be underweight and slipped to the back of the LMGT3 Class grid.
The 720S was classified in second place, which is now inherited by the BMW #46 of Team WRT on which we will see Valentino Rossi at work.
Finally, the doctors gave the okay to the championship leader, Alex Malykhin, to run Saturday’s race, after the very bad accident that occurred in qualifying at the ‘Raidillon’.
Meanwhile, Manthey PureRxcing, which is based a couple of hours from the Belgian track, immediately set to work to find a spare chassis and related spare parts, with the hope of being able to complete the reconstruction of the Porsche #92 and then send it onto the track at the start.
FIA WEC – 6h of Spa: Ferrari penalty
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FIA WEC – 6h of Spa: Qualifying ranking
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