Without too many surprises, Porsche hits the Hyperpole in the Qualifying of the FIA World Endurance Championship valid for establishing the starting grid of the 1812 Km of Qatar.
A great Matt Campbell places the 963 #5 of Team Penske ahead of everyone in the Hypercar Class, while in LMGT3 it is the Corvette that gives itself the first joy thanks to Tom Van Rompuy, for a result that is worth the first championship point of the 2024 season, although as is now well known, the starting line-up in endurance racing has value up to a certain point.
As the first event of the year, the new Qualifying format divided into two parts for the categories was also promoted with full marks, with the best 10 emerging from Q1 being able to compete for the lead in the 10' of Q2, enriching the show with shots of scene and emotions at every session.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
HYPERCAR: Campbell and Porsche Hyper format
As mentioned, the Australian was the author of a great performance aboard the official 963 of Team Penske, giving not only the record to the Weissach manufacturer, but also the very first pole start for an LMDh in the top endurance series.
Campbell's 1'39″347 could actually have been lower based on what was seen in Q1, but Nyck De Vries stopped only 0″164 behind his armed rival in the Toyota #7, imitating his same performance as the first half of tests.
An excellent Callum Ilott debuts by taking home the third fastest time in Jota's Porsche #12, while Ferrari will start from the second row with Antonio Fuoco, who with the 499P #50 is 0.629s behind the top.
Given Campbell's performance, his teammate Kévin Estre in the #6 Porsche disappoints expectations a bit, however in the Top5 ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne's Peugeot 9X8 and Alex Lynn's Cadillac #2.
Eighth was Antonio Giovinazzi in the Ferrari #51, with Jenson Button in Jota's Porsche #38 and Stoffel Vandoorne in the Peugeot #94 completing the Top10, a second behind.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
During the first session the reference time was 1'39″154 for Campbell, already leading the others by almost half a second. The great battle to access the Hyperpole saw Brendon Hartley stay out by 17 thousandths with the Toyota #8, followed closely by the Ferrari #83 of Yifei Ye (AF Corse).
In the seventh row we find Julien Andlauer with the Porsche #99 of Proton Competition, followed by the Alpine #36 of Nicolas Lapierre and the BMWs of Team WRT driven by Raffaele Marciello (#15) and Sheldon Van Der Linde (#20), in addition to the Alpine #35 by Paul-Loup Chatin.
The Lamborghini #63 with Daniil Kvyat on top finishes further away, just over 1″ from the last available position for the second heat, and the Isotta Fraschini of Jean-Kalr Vernay with about 1″5 of margin from the SC63.
In the post-session there will be a check on the refueling procedures carried out by Jota's Porsches and the three Ferrari 499Ps.
#81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R: Tom Van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, Charlie Eastwood
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
LMGT3: Corvette above all
The Corvette takes the very first Hyperpole in history in the LMGT3 Class with the brand new Z06 GT3.R. A great performance by Tom Van Rompuy, standard bearer of TF Sport #81 who got the better of all his colleagues with the Bronze license by completing the fastest lap in 1'54″372.
All the others were very far away, starting with the Porsche #92 of Manthey Pure Rxcing which Alex Malykhin placed on the front row, 0″807 behind his rival, just 3 thousandths ahead of the Ferrari #54 of Thomas Flohr (Vista AF Corse).
Also in the Top5 are the Aston Martins of Clément Mateu (#777 D'Station Racing) and Ian James (#27 Heart of Racing), followed in sixth place by Sarah Bovy with the #85 Lamborghini of the Iron Dames.
More than a second behind from the top we find the McLarens #59 and #95 of United Autosports in the hands of James Cottingham and Josh Caygill respectively, while Ahmad Al Harty did not go beyond ninth place armed with the BMW #46 of Team WRT which he shares with Valentino Rossi.
François Hériau was only tenth in the other Ferrari 296 of Vista AF Corse (#55), capable of setting a valid time only on the very last lap.
#54 View AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
In the first heat, where the best time was James' 1'55″251, the first of the eliminated was Hiroshi Koizumi with the #82 TF Sport Corvette, beaten by a couple of tenths by Hériau's Ferrari.
The Japanese will be joined on the eleventh row by Giorgio Roda's #88 Ford Mustang, the only Proton Competition driver capable of lapping given that Ryan Hardwick's #77 was stopped in the pits due to technical problems already experienced in this morning's Free Practice.
Yasser Shahin placed 13th with the Porsche #91 of Manthey EMA, followed by the BMW #31 of Darren Leung (Team WRT) and the Lexus of Akkodis-ASP driven by Arnold Robin (#78) and Takeshi Kimura (#87).
Bringing up the rear was Claudio Schiavoni in the Lamborghini #60 of the Iron Lynx, suffering a delay of more than 3″4 from 10th place, the safety zone to access the second phase.
The 1812 Km of Qatar will start at 9:00 am Italian time and will last 10 hours.
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