Toyota beats Porsche for pole at Nürburgring

Toyota Gazoo Racing a battu Porsche aux qualifications des 6 Heures du Nürburgring (Allemagne). La TS050 Hybrid n°7 de Kamui Kobayashi and José-Maria Lopez set an average time of 1:38, giving the former WTCC champion his first pole in WEC.

The two Porsche 919 Hybrids failed by more than a tenth, the No. 2 of Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley taking second position ahead of Lotterer-Jani’s No. 1. André Lotterer set the best time of the session with a time of 1’37”886. The No. 8 Toyota of Davidson-Nakajima-Buemi ranks 4th. The ByKolles Racing CLM01-P1 of Kraihamer-Webb-Bonanomi finished more than 9s behind.

The No. 07 G-Drive Racing Oreca 26 of Pierre Thiriet and Ben Hanley took pole in LMP2 with an average time of 1'45''001, but the LMP2 will have to start from the back of the grid after commissioners' investigation. The Russian team will also have to respect a 3-minute stop & go following contact from Roman Rusinov at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No. 38 of Jackie Chan DC Racing led by Oliver Jarvis and Thomas Laurent thus inherits the pole with almost 2 tenths behind. The No. 31 Vaillante Rebellion of Canal-Senna is 2nd in the category ahead of the sister car No. 13 of Beche-Heinemeier Hansson. L'Alpine n°35 of Ragues-negrao-Panciatici, 5th in the category, will have to observe a 30-second stop & go following a dangerous maneuver by Nelson Panciatici.

Kévin Estre and Michael Christensen placed the new Porsche 911 RSR on pole for the WEC GTE Pro category for the first time at the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring with an average time of 1:54. The No. 007 was more than 92 tenths ahead of theAston Martin by Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.

The second Porsche of Frédéric Makowiecki and Richard Lietz followed half a second ahead of the #66 Ford GT of Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla and the Ferrari n°71 AF Corse by Toni Vilander and Davide Rigon. The second Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi is only 7th between the Ford GT of Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx and the Aston Martin of Senna-Adam.

Aston Martin won its 8th consecutive pole with the #98 Vantage of Dalla Lana-Lamy-Lauda credited with a time of 1'56''721.