WEC – Austin: Porsche dominates qualifying

Testing for the 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas in Austin (Texas) gave rise to a trend which did not reverse during qualifying. Porsche monopolized the first line, the n°18 of Neel Jani and Marc Lieb having won pole with an average of 1’46”211 with only a tenth ahead of the n°17 ​​of Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley. The Stuttgart manufacturer remains undefeated in qualifying this season.

Audi blames the blow by pointing more than a second behind the 919 Hybrid, the n°8 of Loïc duval and Oliver Jarvis ahead of the No. 7 of Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer. The result is even harder for Toyota including the TS040 Hybrids ranked more than 2 seconds from pole.

The KCMG Oreca 05 by Bradley-Stone-Howson was once again the fastest in the category in the qualifying exercise with an average of 1’56”834. No. 47 with blue livery q preceded the two Ligier JS P2s of G-Drive Racing, the No. 26 of Sam Bird and Roman Rusinov is 6 tenths ahead of the No. 28 of Yacaman-Derani-Gonzalez. But the Chinese team lost its pole and will have to start from the back of the peloton. The stewards sanctioned a maneuver by Matt Howson who drove in the wrong direction after stopping at the exit of the pits.

The G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 of Bird-Canal-Rusinov inherited first position in the category ahead of the No. 28 sister car of Gustavo Yacaman and Luis Felipe Derani. The #20 ESM Ligier of Ryan Dalziel and David Heinemeier Hansson stands out by taking 3rd position ahead of theAlpine A450b by Nelson Panciatici and Paul Loup Chatin.

In GTE Pro, it's theAston Martin n ° 99 of Stanaway-Rees-MacDowall who took pole with an average of 2’06”134. The #911 91 RSR of Christensen-Lietz is the closest, 2 tenths behind, ahead of the two other Vantages of Turner-Adam and Nygaard-Sörensen.

The Ferrari from AF Corse are behind the second Porsche which completes the top five in the category with less than half a second behind the reference. The No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche driven by Dempsey-Long-Seefried leads the GTE Am with an average of 2:08.

The 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas will be contested this Sunday, September 20 from midnight (French time).

Video of qualifying highlights for the 6h of the Circuit of the Americas