UPDATE: The #93 Peugeot has been demoted from third to 18th on the grid after a post qualifying penalty.
“We have been demoted from third place on the starting grid following a sporting regulation infringement concerning the activation of the rain lights,” the French brand said in a statement.
As a result, the #6 Porsche will start third alongside the #50 Ferrari in fourth.
2025 Le Mans winner Robert Kubica delivered Ferrari its fourth pole position of the FIA WEC season and the #83 crew its first, in a tricky Hyperpole shootout at CoTA this afternoon.
The Polish racer set a 1:57.655 as light rain came down across the circuit, particularly in the final sector, which made it greasy, but not wet enough to make wet tyres work. It was a lap that saw Kubica finish just 0.096 faster than the #51 Ferrari – AF Corse 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, which made it a 1-2 in the session for the Italian brand.
It also earned Kubica and his teammates, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson, an additional point, edging them slightly closer to the #51 crew in the standings.
“Conditions were different last year, but we executed well. Qualifying was good. We got it in a good window, and that was enough for P1. We are happy, but tomorrow is complicated with six hours. But with another point, we take it!” Kubica, who won the WEC race in Austin last year with Ye and Robert Shwartzman, said post-session.
Jean-Eric Vergne ended up an encouraging third in the #93 Peugeot, and within a second of pole, along with the #6 Porsche and #50 Ferrari, which slotted in fourth and fifth.
Further down the order, the #99 Proton Porsche that topped Qualifying after heroics from Nico Varrone took sixth. The #35 Alpine, #8 Toyota, #15 BMW (which was on a head-turning lap before Dries Vanthoor slid off track in Sector 3 late on) and #009 Aston Martin completed the classification in the final stage of qualifying.
Both Cadillacs and the #7 Toyota gambled in the Qualifying session for the Hypercars. It was a gamble that failed despite the intermittent rain showers during the run. The three cars in question finished 16th, 17th, and 18th in the times. The #38 was the fastest of the three, but over two seconds off the slowest of the cars on slicks.
“Horrible session for us,” admitted Dieter Gass, Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s team principal. “The conditions were right between wet and dry tyres. We know that compared to the opposition, we struggle with tyre warming, therefore we decided to commit to wets at one point in the session.
“Unfortunately, from that point onwards, the track seemed to improve slightly, which favoured slick tires and put us down to the bottom of the classification. Not our day.”
Other key runners that failed to sneak into the top 10 include the #5 Penske Porsche, which will start P11, the #36 Alpine and #20 BMW.
Levorato and Tuck make it an all-Ford front row
In LMGT3 Proton Competition locked out the front row with its Mustang GT3s for Ford’s home race.
The two Mustangs traded fast times in the category’s Hyperpole session on a drying track, before Giammarco Levorato finally set a 2:07.645 on his final tour of the CoTA circuit to secure the best grid spot. That time, which scored Ford its first LMGT3 pole, pushed Ben Tuck in the #77 sister car to second by 0.018.
It was an unexpected result, made possible by a post-Qualifying penalty for the #87 Lexus that saw the #88 Ford, which finished up 11th in the first stage of qualifying after being held up by traffic, promoted into the shootout following a short investigation.
“Unbelievable, what a show in Qualifying. The Mustang GT3 has been working really well. To have an internal fight for pole was awesome fun. Proton, Ford and Multimatic have done an amazing job, and it sets us up for tomorrow,” Ford Racing factory driver Ben Barker, who drives the #77 with Tuck and Bernardo Sousa, said.
“It was very slippery, but we managed it well,” #88 driver Stefano Gattuso added.
Best of the rest was the #95 United Autosports McLaren. Sean Gelael was rapid, taking third on the grid with a 2:08.262. Starting alongside the #95 on row two will be the #46 WRT BMW, following Ahmad Al Harthy and later Valentino Rossi’s efforts.
Title contender Jonny Edgar in the #33 TF Sport Corvette completed the top five, with a lap 1.8 seconds off pole. The #59 McLaren, #78 Lexus, #60 Mercedes, #31 BMW and #27 Aston Martin took the remaining places in the top 10.
“Really challenging conditions,” #33 Corvette driver Ben Keating remarked. “Because of the Texas heat this weekend, we’re here on the hard Goodyear. In these conditions, it’s really, really difficult to get heat in the hard Goodyear on a damp track. So it was a challenging condition. Because I was getting a little bit more heat in the tire every lap, I was gaining three, four, five seconds per lap. I was just glad I didn’t end up in the gravel or in the wall somewhere.
“The car was sliding all over the place, but I was really happy to end up in Hyperpole and super proud of Johnny to end up P5. Hyperpole for us was a big deal. The Corvette is way better on a double-stint… two hours in the car with the one set of tyres. Some of the other cars turn on their tire faster than we do. I don’t care about qualifying as much as I care about the race. I’d rather have our car for the race. I think we do.”
In the tricky, greasy conditions during LMGT3 Qualifying, neither Ferrari nor Porsche made it through to the shootout. The #88 Proton Ford Mustang, meanwhile, which initially ended up 11th and just a few tenths off the cutoff line, was promoted into Hyperpole post-session because the #87 Lexus was found to have taken the chequered flag twice.
The #81 Corvette failed to get into stage two, with Tom Van Rompuy unable to match or better hometown hero Ben Keating’s final flying lap in the sister #33 TF Sport Z06 LMGT3.R that saw him comfortably make it through.
The #85 Iron Dames Porsche was the slowest car in the class, Celia Martin’s best time more than 10 seconds off.
Tomorrow’s FIA WEC Lone Star Le Mans is set to get underway at 13:00 local time.
Images courtesy of DPPI
