Porsche will start Sunday's Six Hours of Shanghai (Sat., 11 p.m. ET, Live! FS2) from the pole, following a hard-fought qualifying for the eighth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship that's gone in favor of the defending World Champions.Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley combined for a best two-lap average of 1:44.462 in their No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid to claim their second pole of the season and Porsche's first since the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley combined for a best two-lap average of 1:44.462 in their No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid to claim their second pole of the season and Porsche's first since the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It came in a dramatic final few minutes that saw Hartley get back into the car to complete his qualifying lap after his first lap was disallowed due to exceeding track limits.The pairing, who will share driving duties with Timo Bernhard in tomorrow's race, edged out the No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima by 0.060 seconds, following a late improvement by the Swiss driver.
The pairing, who will share driving duties with Timo Bernhard in tomorrow's race, edged out the No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima by 0.060 seconds, following a late improvement by the Swiss driver.
Both cars that will start on the front row utilized three sets of tires for their qualifying runs.Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval qualified the No. 8 Audi R18 in third, ahead of the Fuji race-winning No. 6 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.
Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval qualified the No. 8 Audi R18 in third, ahead of the Fuji race-winning No. 6 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.
The championship-leading No. 2 Porsche continued its struggles, qualifying sixth in the hands of Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, and nearly six-tenths off the pace from the sister pole-sitting 919 Hybrid.
Manor scored its first pole in LMP2, with Matt Rao and Alex Lynn combining for a 1:54.225 in their No. 44 Oreca 05 Nissan.
Their average time edged out the No. 36 Signatech Alpine A460 Nissan of class championship leaders Gustavo Menezes and Nico Lapierre by 0.157 seconds.
The No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier JS P2 Nissan qualified a season-best third with Tom Blomqvist and Sean Gelael, with the G-Drive Racing and RGR Sport entries completing the top-five in class.
LMP1 Privateer saw the No. 13 Rebellion Racing R-One AER of Dominik Kraihamer and Alexandre Imperatori outpace the ByKolles CLM P1/01 AER by nearly 1.5 seconds for class pole.
Ford, meanwhile, swept the GTE-Pro front row, with the American manufacturer taking its second consecutive qualifying lockout.
While it was Olivier Pla and Stefan Muecke that claimed class pole in Fuji, it was their sister No. 67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell that took top qualifying honors, their first of the season.
The duo combined for a best two-lap average of 2:01.391 to edge out the sister entry by 0.137 seconds in the 20-minute GT qualifying session.
The class championship-leading No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen qualified third, followed by the quickest of the Ferraris, the No. 51 AF Corse entry in fourth.
Both GTE-Pro Ferraris have been hit with an overnight Balance of Performance change, putting the cars back in pre-Shanghai configuration.
The No. 77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR completed the top-five in qualifying on Saturday.
Aston Martin Racing, meanwhile, claimed its fifth GTE-Am class pole in eight races, with Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy reeling off an average of 2:03.767 in the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE.
It came after Dalla Lana's first flying lap being disallowed due to track limits.
Dalla Lana and Lamy will share driving duties with Mathias Lauda tomorrow.
The WEC Six Hours of Shanghai gets underway Sunday at 11 a.m. local time., with coverage beginning Sat. at 11 p.m. ET on FS2.
