After an intense and tight qualifying session, Brendon Hartley & Mark Webber claimed pole position for the 6 Hours of Shanghai tomorrow.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Hartley was fastest early in the session but saw his laptime deleted for abusing track limits. Nakajima was flying in his Toyota #5 and took provisional pole ahead of the driver changes. Right before the checquered flag fell, Hartley drove an outstanding 1.44.307. Fastest lap of the session and an average time with Mark Webber of 1.44.462, just enough to claim pole position. Next to the Porsche #1 on the front row of the grid will be the #5 Toyota TS050 of Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima. Buemi was second fastest in the session, their average time just 0.060 seconds behind the Porsche. Oliver Jarvis & Loic Duval were third fastest with an average time of 1.44.610. Toyota #6, Audi #7 and Porsche #2 fill the rest of the LMP1 grid. Neel Jani and Marc Lieb also saw their first fast lap deleted for excess fuel consumption.
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| © Rebellion Racing |
In the privateer LMP1 class Rebellion Racing scored another pole postion, ahead of ByKolles which had to deal with some technical gremlins during the session.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Manor took its first ever pole position in the LMP2 class with the #44 Oreca05/Nissan. Alex Lynn showing his pace again together with Matt Rao in an average time of 1.54.225. Signatech Alpine scored second place, Nicolas Lapierre & Gustavo Menezes were 0.157 seconds behind pole. Third place on the LMP2 grid is for the #30 ESM Ligier of Tom Blomqvist and Sean Gelael. Bruno Senna was quickest overall, but Ricardo Gonzalez only managed to be 15th fastest after a spin, dropping the RGR Sport Ligier to fifth place in class, behind the G-Drive Oreca. Gonzalez & co will have a hell of a job tomorrow to keep their title dreams alive.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Ford dominated the qualifying session in GTE-Pro, sweeping out the front row. Harry Tincknell was the fastest man on track during qualifying. Together with Andy Priaulx he managed an average time of 2.01.240 in the #67 Ford GT. The #66 Ford of Stefan Mücke & Olivier Pla was second fastest, 0.137 seconds behind their teammates. Third place was for the #95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen in an average time of 2.02.040, 0.649 seconds slower than pole position. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari and #97 Aston Martin completed the top 5. Both AF Corse Ferrari's had to revert their power increase they got ahead of the weekend, pushing them back the order after dominating yesterdays practice. Discussions have been going on between Ferrari and the FIA, but it's clear AF Corse isn't happy about how the BoP is being managed.
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| © Ade Holbrook - AdrenalMedia.com |
In the GTE-Am class, Pedro Lamy & Paul Dalla Lana took pole position with their #98 Aston Martin Vantage. With their pole position they close in 1 point to the championship leading #83 AF Corse Ferrari who was second fastest today. Three Porsches follow both championship contenders (#88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing, #78 KCMG and #86 Gulf Racing). The #50 Larbre Competition Corvette has the final spot on the grid tomorrow.
The green flag for the race will be waived tomorrow at 11.00h local time in Shanghai.
Qualifying results LMP
Qualifying results GTE
Starting Grid
Kristof Vermeulen