The #8 Audi of Loic Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis will start the inaugural 6H Mexico from pole after Duval and Di Grassi combined for a stellar 1:25.069 average. In the process, Di Grassi’s best time was a 1:24.838, one of only two 1:24s in the session, the other being from teammate Andre Lotterer in the #7.
“It’s my first WEC pole, we have come so close so many times. It’s very important to start the second phase of the championship well, we have proved that we are in the fight,” said a delighted Don’t di Grassi.
“That is really positive and also for Audi,” Duval said in agreement. “When you know how difficult it is to make a competitive car here in Mexico – the work that has been done in the factory was really good and now we have a car to fight.
“We showed Porsche that we are not going to let car #2 win the championship easily.”
Starting second tomorrow will be the #2 Porsche after Neel Jani and Romain Dumas managed a 1:25.111, less than a tenth off the pole time to split the two Audis. The #7 of Lotterer and Marcel Fassler, without teammate Benoit Treluyer once again, ended with a 1:25.350 average and will start the race third.
The best of the Toyotas was the #5 of Sebastian Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima, and could only manage fifth behind the #1 Porsche in fourth spot.
Best of the LMP1 L runners was the #13 Rebellion Racing R-One with a 1:29.919, almost two seconds clear of the ByKolles CLM.
In LMP2, the RGR Sport by Morand Ligier secured its first pole position of the season after Bruno Senna and local favourite Ricardo Gonzalez set an average 1:35.724 in front of the jubilant local crowd. Senna set a 1:34.688, while Gonzalez managed a 1:36.283 late in the session.
“Honestly we’ve been on it all weekend,” explained Senna, whose fastest lap was a second quicker than anyone else in the class. “I was quietly confident that we could be on the front row. Ricardo nailed it, I’m so happy, I can’t wait for the race tomorrow.”
Behind, the championship-leading #36 Alpine tried hard to snag pole, but a mistake from Nicolas Lapierre brought out red flags. The Frenchman spun and hit the barriers on the outside of Turn 7, before getting back to the pits. When the session resumed Lapierre tried to secure pole once again but couldn’t make up the time and would have to settle for second in the #36 Alpine.
The fight for third spot meanwhile, went down to the wire with Jonny Kane setting a 1:35.753 on his final lap to put the Strakka Racing Gibson in the top three, after Lewis Williamson’s early banker which combined for a 1:36.037. On the other end of the scrap was the G-Drive Racing Oreca which will be starting fourth after setting pole at each of the WEC rounds thus far in 2016.
Book-ending the top five in the secondary prototype class was the Manor Oreca.
GTE Pro saw Aston Martin Racing continue to pace the field, with the #95 leading the #97 in a 1-2 for the British brand. The best lap from the two cars came from Richie Stanaway in the #97, though Turner couldn’t replicate the Kiwi’s time and give them pole. Instead, the #95 of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim scored pole position with an average time of 1:40.458, 0.142 quicker than the sister car.
The best of the rest was the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Gianmaria Bruni, five tenths back with an average of 1:41.034, ahead of the Dempsey Proton Porsche and the #71 AF Corse 488 rounding out the top five nine tenths back.
At the bottom of the pile were the two Fords, with the #66 ahead of the #67. And the only real drama in GTE Qualifying came from one of them, when Andy Priaulx had an off at the entry to the stadium, clouting the barrier on drivers left before handing over to teammate Harry Tincknell. The car was able to continue through Tincknell’s time in the car without further issues.
In Am, it was Aston Martin again on pole, with Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy combining to set a 1:42.437 in the #98 Vantage, four tenths quicker than their nearest rival.
The three Porsches in the class will start tomorrow’s race second, third and fourth with the best of the 911s being the Abu-Dhabi Proton entry which set a 1:42.839 ahead of the Gulf Porsche which set a 1:43.546.
The Larbre Corvette and championship-leading AF Corse Ferrari made up the final two spots, with the #83 having such a bad run being the real story here. The #83 crew of Francois Perrodo, Manu Collard and Rui Aguas have been struggling for pace all weekend, the engine down on power more than expected in the high altitude.
The 6 Hours of Mexico starts tomorrow at 13:30 local time in Mexico City.
