Below are the main headlines from Qualifying at round 3 of FIA WEC Season 8, the 4 Hours of Shanghai. The session saw several new entries in the WEC history books!
LMP1
- Rebellion Racing take first ever overall pole position as North and South American pairing of Gustavo Menezes and Bruno Senna set average best time of 1:45.892.
- Qualifying session saw first three grid positions filled by non-hybrid cars for the first time since introduction of hybrid power in 2012.
- Senna sets fastest overall time of 1:45.778 in No.1 Rebellion R13-Gibson.
- Team LNT starts second and third with AER-engined No.6 Ginetta heading No.5 sister car.
- Charlie Robertson and Michael Simpson combine and, despite a late spin from Simpson, they start from the front row alongside Rebellion.
- Egor Orudzhev and Ben Hanley combine to place third in No.5 Ginetta.
- No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing car driven by Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi starts fourth; No.8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID places fifth – both cars being slowed in one-lap pace by Success Handicap thanks to victories in Silverstone and Fuji.
LMGTE Pro
- No.92 Porsche 911 RSR claims pole in LMGTE Pro as Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen combine to average 1:59.579 and take their first pole of Season 8 in very close qualifying session.
- Estre sets fastest overall lap with a 1:59.024 best for Porsche’s first ever GTE Pro pole in Shanghai.
- Aston Martin Racing takes second as Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen in the No.95 entry combine to set an average time of 1:59.597 just 0.018s ahead of nearest rivals.
- AMR place second and third as No.97 Vantage AMR of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin are just 0.01s back from stablemates.
- No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi starts fourth in class
LMP2
- LMP2 sees Cool Racing take first ever WEC pole as Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga average 1:48.649 in the No.42 ORECA 07 Gibson. Lapierre’s time of 1:48.089 is a new qualifying record for the WEC in Shanghai.
- Second in LMP2 is the No.37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry combine for 1:48.775 – last year’s winners being the best placed Goodyear-shod entry.
- Just two tenths of a second behind was the No.22 United Autosports ORECA of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque.
LMGTE Am
- No.56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR tops LMGTE Am as Matteo Cairoli and Egidio Perfetti combine with an average best of 2:00.824.
- Cairoli sets best lap of 2:00.031 and the Norwegian/Italian alliance takes first pole of Season 8.
- Second in LMGTE Am is the No.98 Aston Martin Racing entry with Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn combining for a time of 2:01.528. This is the first time since 2013 that Aston Martin Racing has not claimed class pole in Shanghai.
- No.77 Dempsey Proton Porsche starts third ahead of No.90 TF Sport Aston Martin which claimed pole at the two previous rounds.
