For the third time this season, a factory Ferrari AF Corse 499P will start on the pole position in the FIA World Endurance Championship. But instead of the #50 of Antonio Fuoco, this time it’s Antonio Giovinazzi who drove the #51 Ferrari to pole for tomorrow’s Lone Star Le Mans six-hour enduro at Circuit of the Americas.
Giovinazzi and his co-drivers, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, will start up front after the Italian driver and Formula One alumnus led both phases of Hypercar qualifying. He got through to the Hyperpole session with the fastest time, a 1:50.734 – and then led Hyperpole itself with a rapid 1:50.390.
It’ll be an all-Ferrari front row tomorrow, but the outside will be occupied by the yellow #83 AF Corse Ferrari, the privateer car, after Robert Kubica set a 1:50.667 at the chequered flag to grab second place in Hyperpole.
Alex Lynn aboard the #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R also improved at the flag, setting a 1:50.680 to get third place on the grid.
He’ll line up next to a surprise fourth-place qualifier, Charles Milesi in the #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424.
Antonio Fuoco, a two-time pole winner this year, qualified fifth in the red #50 AF Corse Ferrari, well ahead of the #50 team’s nearest rivals in the championship.
The surprise from the first Qualifying session – where 1.692 seconds covered all 18 cars, was Kevin Estre missing the cut for Hyperpole. Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Andre Lotterer will start 14th in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, leaving their 19-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship very vulnerable tomorrow.
A sixth-place qualifying run from the #5 Penske Porsche of Matt Campbell at least salvaged some pride at the end of Hyperpole.
The other main title challenger, the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid, will start ninth after Kamui Kobayashi’s efforts in qualifying. He’ll line up behind the two Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s – who qualified seventh and eighth, the #20 of Robin Frijns ahead of the #15 of Dries Vanthoor.
However, Sebastien Buemi could only manage 12th fastest in the first Qualifying session, and the #8 Toyota will start in the middle of the pack.
Norman Nato, the winner of the most recent WEC race at COTA, qualified tenth in the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche.
The other unlucky man in the first Qualifying stage was Mick Schumacher in the #36 Alpine – who might well have been able to advance to Hyperpole himself, had he not needed to spend time opening the door to let a wasp out of the cockpit of his A424!
LMGT3 saw Ian James and the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 storm to pole position for the first time this season, with a pole-winning time of 2:05.587.
It’s the first WEC pole position for Heart of Racing Team and the new Vantage GT3.
The #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 will start next to the #27 on the top row. Sarah Bovy led most the LMGT3 Qualifying session but missed a third consecutive pole by less than two-tenths of a second. “I lost power steering,” said the Belgian. “It’s impossible to drive without it on this track. Congratulations to Ian.”
Row two on the grid will be occupied by the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 (2:06.001) and the current leader of the LMGT3 Endurance Trophy, the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R (2:06.176).
Fifth in the times was Tom Van Rompuy in the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R (2:06.287). It was somewhat of a disappointment for the local fans as Corvettes were extremely competitive during Friday and Saturday’s free practice sessions.
Ben Keating qualified ninth in the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 in front of his home fans, though the sister #77 car of Ryan Hardwick missed the cut for Hyperpole and the #77 will start 14th.
Further down in the ranks, the car sitting in second position in the LMGT3 Endurance trophy – the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche – will start from a disappointing 16th position on the grid as Yasser Shahin failed to qualify it for the Hyperpole session.
The 2024 Lone Star Le Mans starts tomorrow at 1:00 PM CDT (local time).
Images © Andrew “Skippy” Hall / Dailysportscar.com
