Porsche blocked out the top two positions in qualifying for this weekend’s Spa round of the World Endurance Championship.
Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard took the pole by nearly eight of tenths of second from team-mates Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.
Hartley was quickest of the first group of drivers with a 1m55.691s aboard the #1 919 Hybrid, before Bernhard posted a 1m55.895s to end up with a 1m55.793s average.
Jani was six tenths slower than Hartley and Lieb ended up over a second behind Bernhard on the way to their average of 1m56.590s.
Hartley told Autosport: “The lap didn’t feel perfect; I think everyone is fighting the track.
“I got a banker and Timo almost did the same lap time, but the gap over our team-mates surprised us.”
Toyota took third spot with the #6 TS050 HYBRID driven by Kamui Kobayashi and Stephane Sarrazin with a 1m57.698s average.
Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval were less than a tenth back in fourth place with a 1m57.716s average aboard their Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
A lap from Rene Rast over half a second faster than anyone else in class gave the German and G-Drive Racing ORECA team-mate Roman Rusinov the LMP2 pole.
Rusinov was initially sixth on a 2m08.407s after having to abort his quickest lap courtesy of a red flag, but a 2m06.748s from Rast vaulted the Jota-run car to the front of the P2 pack.
The Russian subsequently returned to the track to set a 2m07.979s to give them a final average of 2m07.363s.
That put them half a second up on the Signatech Alpine ORECA coupe shared by Gustavo Menezes and Nicolas Lapierre.
The best of the Manor ORECAs qualified by Roberto Merhi and Matt Rao was a further two tenths back in third.
Davide Rigon and Sam Bird again overcame AF Corse Ferrari team-mates James Calado and Gianmaria Bruni at the top of the GTE Pro order.
Rigon was quickest of the first batch of drivers with a 2m17.813s before Bird went quicker with a 2m17.657s to give them a 2m17.644s average.
Calado posted a 2m18.247s and Bruni set two laps in the 2m18s before getting down to a 2m17.835s to lower their average to 2m17.961s.
The best of the Aston Martin Vantage GTEs was just two hundredths back on a 2m17.987s average in the hands of Fernando Rees and Richie Stanaway.
Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana claimed pole in GTE Am for Aston Martin.
QUALIFYING RESULT
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m55.793s |
2 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 0.797s |
3 | LMP1 | S.Sarrazin, M.Conway, K.Kobayashi | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1.905s |
4 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1.923s |
5 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1.957s |
6 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 2.122s |
7 | LMP1 | M.Tuscher, D.Kraihamer, A.Imperatori | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 5.754s |
8 | LMP1 | N.Prost, N.Piquet Jr., N.Heidfeld | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 6.333s |
9 | LMP1 | S.Trummer, O.Webb, J.Rossiter | ByKOLLES Racing Team | CLM/AER | 7.778s |
10 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, N.Berthon, R.Rast | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Nissan | 11.570s |
11 | LMP2 | G.Menezes, N.Lapierre, S.Richelmi | Signatech Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 12.029s |
12 | LMP2 | M.Rao, R.Bradley, R.Merhi | Manor | ORECA/Nissan | 12.243s |
13 | LMP2 | S.Dolan, G.van der Garde, J.Dennis | G-Drive Racing | Gibson/Nissan | 12.764s |
14 | LMP2 | T.Graves, W.Stevens, J.Jakes | Manor | ORECA/Nissan | 13.100s |
15 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, F.Albuquerque, B.Senna | RGR Sport by Morand | Ligier/Nissan | 13.332s |
16 | LMP2 | V.Petrov, K.Ladygin, V.Shaytar | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/Nissan | 13.652s |
17 | LMP2 | R.Dalziel, L.Derani, C.Cumming | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/Nissan | 13.808s |
18 | LMP2 | N.Minassian, M.Mediani, D.Markozov | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/Nissan | 13.832s |
19 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, H-Pin Tung, N.Panciatici | Baxi DC Racing Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 14.437s |
20 | LMP2 | N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane | Strakka Racing | Gibson/Nissan | 15.367s |
21 | LMP2 | S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van Overbeek | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/Nissan | 17.915s |
22 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 21.851s |
23 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, J.Calado | AF Corse | Ferrari | 22.168s |
24 | GTE Pro | R.Stanaway, F.Rees, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 22.194s |
25 | GTE Pro | B.Johnson, S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 22.587s |
26 | GTE Pro | M.Franchitti, A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 22.625s |
27 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, D.Turner | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 22.946s |
28 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, M.Christensen | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 24.243s |
29 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 24.558s |
30 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.Aguas | AF Corse | Ferrari | 26.409s |
31 | GTE Am | K.Al Qubaisi, D.Hansson, P.Long | Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing | Porsche | 26.422s |
32 | GTE Am | Y.Yamagishi, P.Ragues, P.Ruberti | Larbre Competition | Chevrolet | 26.923s |
33 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, A.Carroll, B.Barker | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 27.135s |
34 | GTE Am | C.Ried, W.Henzler, J.Camathias | KCMG | Porsche | 27.523s |