Toyota Gazoo Racing has locked out the front row for the 2024 FIA WEC 6 Hours of São Paulo after a dominant performance in Hypercar Hyperpole from the pair of GR010 HYBRIDs.
The quickest of the two was the #7, with Kamui Kobayashi scoring the Japanese brand its first pole of the season with a 1:23.140 set with three and a half minutes remaining.
The other nine drivers in the final shootout pushed hard to better that lap on their final flyers but lost chunks of time in the tight, twisty second sector as the peak performance from the tyres faded.
Sebastien Buemi would come close in the sister car but the Swiss could only manage a 1:23.262 to claim second spot on the grid.
“We got the best possible result as a team,” Kobayashi said after the session. “Me and Séb certainly enjoyed it today. We had an amazing car, and it was fun to drive, especially because Interlagos is such a great track.
“We have struggled a bit in qualifying at times this season because the competition is really strong, but finally we have a pole position which is a fantastic feeling. After Le Mans, the team made a big effort for this race.”
Row two for tomorrow’s race will be occupied by the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 driven by Matt Campbell and the Cadillac V-Series.R steered by Alex Lynn.
The second factory Porsche – which leads the championship – took fifth alongside the Le Mans-winning #50 Ferrari that ended up four-tenths off pole with Antonio Fuoco at the controls.
The JOTA Porsches will start seventh and eighth, while the #51 Ferrari will line up ninth in front of the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 that could only manage 10th.
It was a tough qualifying session for the French manufacturers. Neither Alpine nor Peugeot got a car into the top 10 during Qualifying, with the #36 A424 coming closest, qualifying 11th after missing out by under two-tenths.
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari also didn’t get in and will start 15th behind the #15 WRT BMW that, unlike the sister car, was unable to sneak into the top 10.
LMGT3 saw Sarah Bovy and Iron Dames storm to pole position for the second time this season.
The Belgian, who topped Qualifying to set the Hyperpole field, set a blistering 1:34.413 in the final shootout to get the better of the two United McLarens and the Pure Rxcing Porsche which found themselves in contention for pole.
That time was just shy of four-tenths up on the Pure Rxcing 911, which will start alongside the #85 Lamborghini on the front row after multiple improvements during the Hyperpole session from Alex Malykhin.
Row two on the grid will be occupied by the two United McLaren GT3 Evos, with Josh Caygill putting the #95 third and James Cottingham putting the #59 fourth with times under half a second off pole.
Fifth in the times was the Manthey EMA Porsche, which is joint top in the championship standings and is carrying the most success ballast this weekend.
The #31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3, another car in contention for the title, will start sixth.
Only nine cars set times in the Hyperpole for the LMGT3 category, as Thomas Flohr in the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari was forced to park up early for causing a red flag.
The Swiss had a spin at Turn 5 on cold tyres at the start of the session, avoided the advertising hoardings on the apex but ended up stranded on the apex, bringing the session to a halt with eight minutes remaining. The #54 will start 10th as a result.
Ahead of Hyperpole for the GT3 cars, a couple of key cars failed to make the cut in the first Qualifying session. The #77 Proton Competition Mustang and #46 WRT BMW ended up 11th and 12th after Ryan Hardwick and Ahmad Al Harthy’s efforts respectively.
Christian Ried on his return to the cockpit ended up 17th in the #88 Proton Mustang.
Tomorrow’s race is set to start at 11:30 local time in Brazil.
Images courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing and Iron Dames
