Antonio Fuoco and Sarah Bovy were the heroes of the FIA World Endurance Championship Qualifying, going on to win the Hyperpole for the 6h of Spa-Francorchamps.
The sun continues to shine on the Ardennes circuit, even if a few clouds obscure it every now and then, and in two beautiful sessions the Ferrari standard-bearer gave the 499P #50 the lead in the Hypercar Class for the second time in a row this season, while the Belgian made a gap in the LMGT3 Class with the Lamborghini.
There was no shortage of illustrious eliminations, such as the leader of the latter category, Alex Malykhin, violently against the barriers in Q1, but the disappointing Ferrari #51 and Toyota #7, far from the best in the opening heat.
HYPERCAR: Fire a missile for everyone
In the Hypercar Class comes the second Hyperpole in a row for Maranello, with a Calabrian in enviable shape who stood out both in the first session and in the decisive one, where he put the 499P #50 in front in 2’02″600.
Heavy gaps for the rivals, given that Matt Campbell stops at half a second with the official Porsche #5 of Team Penske, followed closely by an excellent Cadillac taken third by Alex Lynn.
Excellent performance also for Julien Andlauer, who gave the Proton Competition its first pole start of the year in the private team category, finishing fourth overall.
Behind the Frenchman’s #99 Porsche are the #12s of Callum Ilott (Jota) and the official #6 of Kévin Estre, while Brendon Hartley is seventh at 0.9″ in the Toyota #8, keeping the Alpine #35 of Charles Milesi, struggling with a technical problem at the end of the tests and stopping along the track.
The Top 10 is closed by the Ferrari #83 of AF Corse with Robert Kubica on top and the BMW #20 of Robin Frijns, both 1.4 seconds from the top.
#99 Proton Competition Porsche 963: Harry Tincknell, Neel Jani, Julien Andlauer
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
In a very tight Q1 in which the Top10 found themselves enclosed in just 0″519, James Calado was left out due to a matter of hundredths, disappointing with the Ferrari #51 considering the best time achieved by his colleague Fuoco with the #50 in 2’02 “462, with the Englishman complaining about the behavior of the 499P.
Alongside him in 12th position will be Mick Schumacher with the Alpine #36, while Dries Vanthoor will start 13th on the BMW #15 followed by the Peugeot #93 of Mikkel Jensen.
Another illustrious elimination is Kamui Kobayashi, only 15th with the Toyota #7 after also making a mistake in the second sector which relegates him to 1″2 from the top in the first heat, with the Peugeot #94 of Loic Duval and the Lamborghini of Daniel Kvyat.
The #38 Porsche of Jota and Jean-Karl Vernay close the field, author of his best lap of the weekend for the Isotta Fraschini, which stopped 3″4 from the top.
#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
LMGT3: Bovy uncatchable, fear for Malykhin
Sarah Bovy was uncatchable in the LMGT3 class, shining on her home circuit without too many worries.
The Hyperpole session actually lasted less than expected because after a handful of minutes Alex Malykhin lost control of his Porsche #92 at ‘Eau Rouge’ and crashed disastrously into the external barriers of the ‘Raidillon’.
Session inevitably interrupted, wreck of the 911 recovered and doctors and ambulance intervened to extract the Manthey Pure Rxcing bearer, who was taken to hospital for checks.
When the green light was given with more than 7′ left on the clock, the assault on the record rewarded Bovy, who stopped the clock at 2’20″755 with the Lamborghini #85 of the Iron Dames, beating by 0″337 a excellent Josh Caygill, with the best performance of the year with the #95 United Autosports McLaren.
Third time for Ahmad Al Harthy on the BMW #46 of Team WRT which he shares with Valentino Rossi, flanked by the Porsche #91 of Yasser Shahin (Manthey EMA).
Top5 completed by the McLaren #95 of James Cottingham (United Autosports) half a second behind the leader, keeping behind the Aston Martin #27 of Heart Of Racing driven by owner Ian James and the Ferrari #54 of Thomas Flohr (AF Corse).
Also among the top 10 are Tom Van Rompuy at the wheel of the #81 Corvette of TF Sport and the #78 Lexus of Arnold Robin (Akkodis ASP), although the latter did not complete any fast laps due to a problem suffered by his RC F in exiting the pits.
Malykhin ranked 10th, although he will certainly end up at the back of the pack if his car is repaired and doctors allow him to take part in the race.
Giorgio Roda with the #88 Ford Mustang was eliminated immediately in Q1, where the best time had also been set by Bovy in 2’20″527. He was left out of the fight for the lead by a couple of tenths, also because in the last attempt the The Proton Competition driver ran wide in the gravel, losing time, stopping 11th.
Alongside him on the sixth row will be his teammate Ryan Hardwick in the #77 car, followed by the #31 BMW of Darren Leung (WRT). François Heriau disappoints, only 14th at the wheel of the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, with behind the #777 Aston Martin of Clément Mateu (D’Station Racing) and the #82 Corvette of Hiroki Koizumi (TF Sport).
Closing out the field with abysmal gaps are Takeshi Kimura in the #87 Lexus of Akkodis-ASP and Claudio Schiavoni at the wheel of the #60 Lamborghini of Iron Lynx.
The departure of the 6h of Spa is scheduled for 1pm on Sunday.
HYPERPOLE HYPERCAR
Q1 HYPERCAR
HYERPOLE LMGT3
Q1 LMGT3
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