Genesis Magma Racing’s incredible debut season in the FIA WEC’s Hypercar class hit another milestone this afternoon at Barcelona, when Mathys Jaubert set a rapid 1:30.166 to score the brand’s first-ever pole position in the #17 GMR-001 LMDh.
The young Frenchman’s time, featuring two ‘purple’ sectors, came after an improvement from 1:30.329, which put him on provisional pole in the Hyperpole shootout.
“It’s an amazing feeling. The car was just amazing. It was all about putting it together on a track that’s tricky with low grip. We went for the right strategy on tyres, and here we are,” Jaubert, who became the youngest ever WEC pole-sitter, said.
“A star is born. It shows we mean serious business in this championship,” Andre Lotterer, who shares the #17 with Jaubert and Pipo Derani, added.
Adding to the Korean brand’s rapid Saturday, Mathieu Jaminet put the sister car on the second row, third, with a 1:30.366 and briefly looked on course to snatch pole and create a front-row lockout on his final lap, before dropping time in the second and third sectors.
Splitting the two GMR-001s was the championship-leading #8 Toyota Racing TR010 HYBRID of Ryo Hirakawa, who came within two tenths of pole with his best lap of 1:30.336.
The #35 Alpine will join the second Genesis on row two in fourth, ahead of the #12 JOTA Cadillac and #83 AF Corse 499P, which took fifth and sixth. The #36 Alpine, #50 Ferrari, #7 Toyota and #38 Cadillac rounded out the top 10.
Both Aston Martin THOR Team’s Valkyries, which showed pace through practice, narrowly missed the Hyperpole cut, qualifying 11th and 12th.
“People are expecting us to get into Hyperpole, which is a good problem to have. Hopefully we can make up ground tomorrow, especially if it rains, which is highly likely,” #009 driver Marco Sorensen said.
Another surprise was the #51 AF Corse 499P finishing up 13th. Antonio Giovinazzi briefly topped the session, but like Fuoco in Hyperpole, his best time was deleted for a track limits violation, leaving him with a mountain to climb on his final flyer. It wasn’t enough, and the Italian finished a tenth shy of booking a spot in the shootout.
Neither BMW nor Peugeot snuck into the top 10 either. BMW Team WRT, which has titles to fight for, will hope its fortunes change tomorrow.
“Our strongest results have been driving forward in the race. Qualifying is never our strength, but I didn’t expect to be this slow. We have work to do on the shorter run side, but also on the long runs; we aren’t looking too shiny,” BMW driver Sheldon van der Linde noted.
More to follow…
