Kamui Kobayashi and Toyota take pole for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
Qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Round Three of the FIA WEC World Endurance Championship took place late on Friday afternoon with three 15-minute sessions, one for each class.
In the hyper premium class, Toyota exploded in the hot and cold with New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley knocking out atop the Ridlon at the start of the session. The other car, driven by Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, inherited first place a few minutes after the checkered flag.
The best starting time achieved by Ferrari of Italy’s Antonio Giovinazzi was already canceled for not respecting track limits. Giovinazzi dropped to third, behind fellow Spaniard Miguel Molina.
As for Laurens Vanthoor of Limburg, he saw France’s Kevin Esther put his Porsche 963 into sixth place.
In LMGTE-Am, Sarah Bovey (Porsche 911 RSR) was the only one of the three Belgian drivers to qualify. In a session also halted after the exit of Porsche of American PJ Hyett, Liègeoise only had one real time attempt, yet it was enough to set the second time in 2:19.150. Paul went to Oman’s Ahmed Al Aarthi (Aston Martin), with a time of 2:17.216. Alessio Picariello’s Porsche 911 RSR would start at the back of the pack after the 13th fastest time set by Italian teammate Claudio Schiavone.
Ulysse de Pauw was unable to participate in the qualifiers after the violent exit of his Italian teammate Diego Alessi on Friday.
In LMP2, pole position went to Britain’s Tom Blomqvist (Oreca United) while the Belgian WRT cars set the second and fourth fastest times, respectively, with Swiss Louis Delétraz and Dutchman Robin Frijns.
The race will start on Saturday at 12:45pm.
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