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Lietz «had no idea» last-lap WEC Spa move was for LMGT3 victory

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Lietz revealed that he at first «had no idea» about the significance of his pass on team-mate Klaus Bachler into Les Combes, which secured victory for the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche he shared with Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring, as he had begun the final tour in third place.

Franck Perera’s Iron Lynx Lamborghini was forced to pit for fuel with just one lap to go, but crossed the start-finish line to commence the final lap temporarily still in the lead. That handed Bachler the advantage, but he too was low on energy and put up little resistance as Lietz loomed in his mirrors.

Asked if he was aware of the situation unfolding around him, four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class-winner Lietz replied: «Honestly I had no idea.»

Dutch 19-year-old Schuring had been just about to hand over to Lietz when the red flags were shown following a heavy accident involving Earl Bamber’s Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh and the WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sean Gelael, for which the former has been given a five-place grid penalty for the next WEC round at Le Mans. 

When the race eventually resumed with 1hr44m on the clock, Schuring was forced to pit immediately after the restart, which initially appeared to have scuppered their prospects as Lietz rejoined ninth and deep in the pack.

He reflected that the team thought «we were fighting for nothing», but showed strong pace over a stint after applying knowledge learned in a recent test at Interlagos to rise through the order.

As others running low on energy came into the pits in the closing minutes, Lietz advanced into podium contention but was «surprised» to find himself in the mix for victory.

«The engineer said ‘okay, you’re P5 now, maybe we are fighting for a podium’,» he recounted. 

«And then suddenly it was like ‘okay, now this is the pass for the victory’ and I was like ‘okay, I didn’t get P3 or anything else’. 

«So from the driver point of view in the last stint I was surprised by the result.

«But I think that team-wise, and especially with these team-mates here, we deserved to be on the podium or fighting for the victory. 

«After the red flag taking the victory basically a second time in this race, I’m really happy.»

Lietz revealed that he initially thought Bachler «had a tyre issue» due to the success ballast on the championship-leading #92 car co-driven by Alexander Malykhin and Joel Sturm as he rapidly closed on his fellow Austrian.

«I had no information from the team, it was not really clear what happened,» he added. 

Bachler explained that he had little choice but to allow Lietz through due to his precarious energy situation.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he’d have fought the issue harder if it had been anyone other than a team-mate, he replied: «I could decide to stop or to take the P2. 

«For sure if it wouldn’t be the sister car, I would try it. 

«But I think I would have no chance, because we ran out of energy.»

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Jota’s victory in WEC Spa is «proof» of the 963 programme, says Porsche

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Urs Kuratle, director of the LMDh project at Porsche, explained that the win for British team’s 963 LMDh shared by Will Stevens and Callum Ilott and the performance of the Proton Competition entry driven by Julien Andlauer and Neel Jani provided validation of the decision to produce customer versions of car. 

“This is proof of the 963 and our decision to build cars for customers,” Kuratle told Motorsport.com after the race.

“It was really nice to see the performance of our customers here at Spa and at the end of the day, it is good for Porsche, good for the WEC and good for the sport.  

“It is also good for Porsche Penske Motorsport because this kind of showing from our customers gives a push to the factory team.”

Kuratle and Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach have consistently highlighted the extra workload involved in introducing customer cars in year one of the 963 in 2023 while stressing that it was one of the key tenets of the programme.

Porsche is so far the only manufacturer involved in the Hypercar class of the WEC and the sister GTP category in the IMSA SportsCar Championship to sell cars to be run by independent teams.

Kuratle conceded that the Proton car, which led more laps than the two factory 963s between them prior to the red flag that interrupted the Belgium WEC round, and the winning Jota entry had the edge on pace over the PPM cars on Saturday. 

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“Ferrari was number one today on performance, then it was probably the Cadillac and then our customers and then the PPM cars — that is good for Porsche,” he said.

The #12 Jota Porsche prevailed over the #6 factory car shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre in what was essentially a two-car race for victory after the race was restarted beyond the original scheduled finish time.

They gained an advantage on the rest of the Hypercar field because they had pitted just before the race stoppage resulting from the accident involving Earl Bamber in the Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R and Sean Gelael in the #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 on the Kemmel Straight/

Kuratle conceded that Porsche had luck on its side given that the two factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars were running 1-2 at the time the red flag was shown. 

“We needed luck today because we didn’t have the pace of the Ferrari and we got it,” he explained. 

But he also pointed out that the race stoppage was also unfortunate for Proton, which ended up fifth behind the two Ferraris at the chequered flag.  

“Proton was amazing today but they had bad luck,” said Kuratle.

Porsche factory driver Andlauer expressed disappointment with fifth pace after the race. 

“We had everything we needed to have a good result, to at least finish on the podium,” said the Frenchman. 

“We have to be disappointed with the final result.”

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Ferrari protest into WEC Spa result rejected

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The Ferrari AF Corse team submitted a protest against the the stewards’ decisions declaring that the race would be restarted after the original time the event was scheduled to finish and the provisional results of the race.

It was ruled inadmissible under the FIA’s international sporting code because “a stewards decision cannot be the subject of a protest”, according to the bulletin confirming its rejection.

The two Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars were running 1-2 when the race was red-flagged after Earl Bamber’s Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh triggered a crash that sent the #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 driven by Sean Gelael into the barriers on the outside of the Kemmel Straight.

The accident happened four hours and 13 minutes into the race but the repairs to the barriers were not finished in time to allow a restart before the scheduled 19:00 finish.

A decision was taken by the stewards to resume the race at 19:10 for a period of one hour and 44 minutes, the remaining time left on the clock minus the three minutes it took from the red flag being shown until the cars formed up on the grid in parc ferme conditions.

Ferrari ended up finishing third and fourth with its #50 and #51 factory entries after the winning #12 Jota Porsche 963 LMDh and the second-placed #6 factory Porsche Penske Motorsport gained time as a result of the red flag because they had pitted just before the stoppage.

Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s sportscar racing boss, told Motorsport.com after the race: “I do not understand what happened — the clock was running and the decision to restart after the end of the six hours was very unexpected for me.

“Frankly speaking we were in a condition to win the race and I am not happy.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

“My expectation was that we could maybe restart for some laps to finish the race, but not to restart completely for one hour and 44 minutes.”

The decision to resume the Spa 6 Hours was unusual if not unprecedented in the history of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012, but was allowed under the series sporting regulations.

They state: “If the circumstances so require the stewards may take the decision to stop and/or modify the race time set. This may not exceed the time of the competition [meaning six hours].”

An explainer sent out by the FIA in the wake of the race stated that the decision to complete the full duration of the Spa 6 Hours “ensured sporting fairness for the competitors, who set their strategies for a six-hour race”.

“Cutting the race session short would mean that some competitors would gain, and others would lose as a result.”

Bamber was penalised after the race for his part in the accident after tagging Gelael as well as the back of the Proton Competition Porsche 963 with Neel Jani at the wheel.

The Cadillac will have to take a five-place grid penalty on the New Zealander’s next appearance in the WEC, which means the Le Mans 24 Hours double-points round on 15/16 June.



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Jota Porsche claims maiden win in crash-delayed thriller

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Will Stevens and Callum Ilott secured the first customer car victory of the Hypercar era for Jota in a 1-2 for the Porsche 963 LMDh, finishing 12.363s ahead of the factory #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre.

Taking fuel shortly before the 1hr44m red flag, caused when Earl Bamber’s Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh clipped the WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sean Gelael on the Kemmel Straight to fire both cars hard into the barriers, proved crucial in cycling the Porsches to the head of the pack and denying Ferrari a first victory since Le Mans last year. 

Lotterer had been running ahead of Callum Ilott before their stops in fifth and sixth position, the cars emerging in the reverse order. 

At that juncture, a 1-2 finish for the factory 499P Le Mans Hypercars had been on the cards with Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 car leading the sister #50 entry of Antonio Fuoco that started from the back of the Hypercar grid after losing all its times from qualifying for running underweight.

But the race was turned on its head by Bamber’s misjudgement as the Kiwi attempted a move for third on Neel Jani’s Proton Competition 963, which triggered a violent accident and a lengthy delay while the barriers were repaired.

Teams were permitted to change tyres on the grid for the safety car restart, but the leading #51 Ferrari was forced to take emergency service before pitting again after the return to green. 

With Ilott and Estre only needing one more stop in the remainder of the race, they could control proceedings once it went green but Estre was never in a position to challenge the all-British crew, driving as a duo with Norman Nato on Formula E duty in Berlin. 

Estre was forced to pit one lap sooner than Ilott, and a gamble on four tyres at his final stop was not enough to get him back on terms as the Jota car reeled off the laps. 

The emergency stop under the safety car at the restart meant the #50 car Fuoco shared with Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina completed the podium, while Pier Guidi fought back past Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH to finish fourth.

Kobayashi had emerged from the pits ahead of both Ferraris, but lost out to Fuoco on the approach to Les Combes and was outfoxed by Pier Guidi at the same spot later in the race.

Julien Andlauer completed a storming drive in the Proton Competition 963 that had led at half distance to finish fifth, passing Kobayashi at Eau Rouge in the car he shared with Neel Jani.

Kobayashi also crossed the line sixth, but a five-second time penalty for making contact with the Iron Dames Lamborghini at La Source demoted him behind the #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.  

 

Porsche doubles up in LMGT3:

#91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz

#91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

In the LMGT3 class, Manthey Racing delivered a remarkable 1-2 finish after the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan that led onto the final lap had to pit for fuel.

Franck Perera had been set for a fairytale maiden victory after hunting down Gregoire Saucy’s United Autosports McLaren, but didn’t have enough energy to complete the final tour without a splash-and-dash.

This cycled the lead to the PureRxcing Manthey Porsche that had been rebuilt after a heavy qualifying accident for Alexander Malykhin at Raidillon, but his co-driver Klaus Bachler was also struggling for energy.

As a result, he didn’t fight too hard as team-mate Richard Lietz in the Manthey EMA car loomed in his mirrors and the Austrian outbraked his compatriot into Les Combes before stroking home to a 1.298s victory.

Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin had been the leading crew before the red flag, and initially dropped deep into the pack when Schuring pitted at the restart to hand over to Lietz.

But the Porsche remained in the mix and steadily moved forwards as those who had taken fuel before the red flag ran low on energy.

Points leaders Bachler, Malykhin and Joel Sturm completed their improbable recovery to finish second ahead of Perera, Matteo Cressoni and Claudio Schiavone.

The Iron Dames Lamborghini qualified on pole by Sarah Bovy dominated the early phases of the race but had a 40s lead wiped out by a safety car triggered when the second Jota Porsche 963 of Phil Hanson was hit from behind by Rene Rast’s BMW M Hybrid V8 and clattered into Ahmad Al Harthy’s WRT BMW, also causing barrier damage.

The all-female car Bovy shared with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting still appeared a contender for victory and led following the restart, but a slow right-rear change at what proved to be the penultimate stop dropped Gatting behind Perera, before she too had to make a late splash while pressuring Bachler for second. 

The Dames ultimately placed fourth, ahead of the McLaren Saucy shared with James Cottingham and Nicolas Costa.

WEC Spa — Race results:



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Spa WEC race halted after accident involving Cadillac and BMW in hour five

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Bamber was pressuring Neel Jani’s Proton Porsche 963 LMDh for third place with a little under two hours remaining in the race when the pair came upon the battle for fourth in the LMGT3 class on the run to Les Combes.

With Jani delayed slightly behind Gelael’s WRT-run BMW M4 GT3 and the D’Station Aston Martin Vantage of Erwan Bastard, Bamber had a run on the Swiss rounding the Kemmel Straight’s right-hand kink.

But as he moved to the right in a bid to draw alongside Jani, he clipped the front of Gelael’s car and speared his own Chip Ganassi Racing V-Series.R LMDh hard into the barriers on the right-hand side of the road.

Bamber’s car became airborne before landing on its wheels, while Gelael made heavy contact with the barriers on the left-hand side.

Both drivers are understood to be okay. 

 

«It could have been a lot worse, I think I’m quite lucky here,» Gelael told the WEC’s live feed.

«I was just in the middle, the two guys were fighting in front and they misjudged and sometimes the misjudgement can lead to bigger things. I think everyone else sees.

«We were going to salvage something this weekend, anyways we didn’t, but hopefully for Le Mans, it’s the big one that I hope it doesn’t happen in Le Mans. Fingers crossed, full focus there.

«But it’s also an accident you shouldn’t take lightly. I understand these things happen and it’s part of racing, but it’s also something I think very avoidable.

«The respect given between categories and the respect between drivers; some people do it very well, and some people do it a bit less. Today was the worst part.»

WRT’s LMGT3 team manager Kurt Mollekens said: «It’s very unfortunate, one weekend is not the other. We were the heroes of the previous one, now we go back with zero points both cars, big crashes, a lot of work to do before Le Mans.

«We would have preferred to avoid it like everybody else would, but it is what it is.

Ferrari was leading the race at the time of the stoppage with its pair of factory-run 499P Le Mans Hypercars.

Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 entry was leading Antonio Fuoco in the #50 car that was disqualified from qualifying for running underweight and had been demoted to the back of the grid.

Both had overtaken the privateer Proton Porsche that had led in Jani’s hands at half-distance, despite a bizarre problem with his door-hatch.

Shortly after taking over the lead from Julien Andlauer under a virtual safety car, the Swiss spent several slow laps trying to close his reluctant door and was shown a black and orange flag before managing to pull it shut.

The clock continues to tick down as barriers are repaired on the Kemmel Straight. 

The Bamber-Gelael crash was the second major incident of the race, with the VSC triggered by BMW driver Rene Rast tagging the back of Phil Hanson’s Jota Porsche on the run to Bruxelles and spinning it into the path of Ahmad Al Harthy in the other WRT BMW GT3. 

Both Hanson and Al Harthy retired, while Rast’s car was ordered to serve a drive-through penalty.

Repairs to the armco barriers meant the race remained under caution for almost an hour before resuming.

The LMGT3 class is currently led by the Manthey EMA Porsche of Morris Schuring, who was shortly due to hand over to Richard Lietz.

#38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Jenson Button, Philip Hanson, Oliver Rasmussen, crash

#38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Jenson Button, Philip Hanson, Oliver Rasmussen, crash

Photo by: Paul Foster



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Alpine’s first WEC Hyperpole appearance of 2024 ‘healing’ after Imola troubles

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Frenchman Milesi explained that reaching the top 10 shootout in the car’s third competitive outing had helped to lift spirits in the camp ahead of Saturday’s 6-hour race after both Signatech-run machines were involved in a first corner tangle in Italy, while each also had post-race time penalties for drive time infringements.

«It’s good for mental heals in a way because after Imola for sure we were all a bit down,» the 23-year-old acknowledged. 

«And now obviously Hyperpole it’s a lot better for us, putting us in a good mood for the race.»

The #35 entry Milesi shares with Paul-Loup Chatin and Jules Gounon will therefore line up seventh, four spots ahead of the sister #36 car qualified by Mick Schumacher.

Milesi believes that Alpine’s improvement over Imola, a circuit he called «probably the worst track for our car», is in part down to track characteristics due to a greater quantity of medium- and high-speed corners where «we know that the car is good».

«Because we don’t have a lot of slow speed then we look a lot better,» he said. 

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

But the WEC’s 2021 LMP2 champion also attributed Alpine’s upswing to «a good step with the kerb riding, also the traction control» across practice having not conducted a pre-event test at the Belgian circuit.

Milesi admits that Alpine is still learning tyre management techniques, with the abrasive surface expected to result in significant degradation during the race.

«The gap can be massive, you can easily be one second quicker by managing the tyres more on the first laps,» he noted. 

«Also with the traffic, it’s quite difficult because we can take some marbles, and the marbles for the mediums are not really great compared to the hard; you can be more affected by that and it takes sometimes two or three laps to have the tyres back. 

«You can easily destroy them a lot if you try to push, especially on the front.»

Having been forced to stop his car on track at the end of the Hyperpole session due to a loss of power, Milesi added that «the main target is to take some experience still» and have a trouble-free race.

But he is optimistic that returning to the points is a possibility after placing seventh with a well-executed fuel-saving strategy in the Qatar season-opener.

«If we have a good pace and a good strategy, I think we can aim for some points maybe,» he said. 

«But I think it will be tight between everybody, you can see that already even in the free practice it was quite tight.»

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Ferrari stripped of WEC Spa pole, Porsche takes top spot

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The car driven by Antonio Fuoco to a second consecutive WEC pole position in Friday afternoon’s Hyperpole session by a margin of 0.507s has lost all of its times from qualifying and will now start from the rear of the Hypercar field for Saturday’s 6 Hour race.
The #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh will now assume pole position after Matt Campbell pipped the sole Chip Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn by 0.008s.

The stewards report said: «After having checked the Technical Delegate report, the stewards considered the minimum car weight did not comply with the relevant regulations.

«Consequently, the Stewards decided to impose the disqualification of car 50 of the qualifying and hyperpole sessions and the deletion of the lap times of these sessions.»

Fuoco had logged a best time of 2m02.600s to put a margin of 0.507s between himself and closest challenger Campbell.

That effort was fractionally slower than the 2m02.462s Fuoco had managed in the first qualifying session which set the top 10 that progressed to Hyperpole.

His team-mate James Calado in the #51 entry admitted that he «screwed up»  as he missed the cut by 0.021s to Lynn.
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LMGT3 second also disqualified

Photo by: Marco Losi / KAPPAEMEDIA

The #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S EVO has also lost its second place in the LMGT3 category for the same infringement.
Josh Caygill had been 0.337s shy of polesitter Sarah Bovy’s Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan in the delayed Hyperpole session that was red-flagged early on following Alexander Malykhin’s crash at Raidillon.
Caygill, Nico Pino and Marino Sato will also have to start from the back of the 18-car grid.
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Ferrari’s Calado admits «I screwed up» after missing WEC Spa Hyperpole

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The Briton revealed that he made mistakes on his two quick laps aboard the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar in the opening 15-minute qualifying session.

That left him outside the top 10 cars that progressed to the final session in which team-mate Antonio Fuoco claimed pole position by half a second in the sister Ferrari.

“I screwed up both laps basically,” Calado told Motorsport.com. “I went long into Turn 5 [Les Combes] on the first lap; I lost the car, my mistake.

“Then on the second lap I was two or three tenths up and then at Turn 12 [Fagnes], I did exactly the same thing — so I messed up twice.”

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Calado’s best time of 2m03.002s put him 11th in the times, which meant he missed out on progressing to Hyperpole by just two hundredths.  

“It was tight: the reality was that without those mess-ups I could have been in Hyperpole,” said Calado, last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours winner last year with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi. 

The Briton conceded that he would not have been able to fight with Fuoco for the top spot had he made it into Hyperpole.

“I couldn’t have challenged Antonio — he was just too fast,” he said.  “It is difficult because that was only my third ever qualifying in this car.

“It’s quite a big step to adapt from a car set up for the race, which is what I am used to. Fuji last year was my last qualifying, whereas Antonio does all the quali sessions in the other car, which I think is good idea.”

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: Marco Losi / KAPPAEMEDIA

Calado insisted that he still has confidence going into Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours based on the performance of the #51 Ferrari through free practice. 

“Our performance on paper from our race runs looks pretty good,” he explained. 

“We are confident we have got a plan for the race. 

“Unlike last time at Imola, here you can overtake and there is a lot more tyre management involved, so I hope we can fight forward.

“I’ve just to try to get this quali thing out of my head and then focus on the race.”

The Spa 6 Hours, round three of the 2024 WEC, starts at 13:00 local time on Saturday. 

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Ferrari beats Porsche to pole, top Toyota in seventh

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Fuoco took the top spot by almost exactly half a second at the wheel of the #50 Ferarri 499P Le Mans Hypercar in the 12-minute Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in the first round of qualifying. 

The Italian’s 2m02.600s lap of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps pushed Porsche driver Matt Campbell down to second. 

Campbell hung onto a spot on the front row of Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours with a 2m03.107s in his Porsche 963 LMDh despite a late improvement from the Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh in the hands of Alex Lynn. 

The Briton ended up just eight hundredths shy of the Porsche with a 2m03.115s. 

Porsches took position four to six on the grid, the privateer 963s from Proton Competition and Jota edging out the second factory Porsche Penske Motorsport entry. 

Julien Andlauer’s 2m03.314s in the Proton car gave him a margin of seven hundredths over Callum Ilott’s 2m03.384s in the best of Jota cars, with Kevin Estre in the works entry a further six hundredths in arrears on 2m03.448s. 

Brendon Hartley took seventh in the only Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH to make it through to Hyperpole. 

Charles Milesi took eighth in the #35 Alpine A424 LMDh, while Robert Kubica and Robin Frijns rounded out the top 10 in their respective Ferrari and BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh Hypercar class entries. 

The top 13 cars in the first round of qualifying lasting 15 minutes were covered by less than a second. 

Among the casualties from the opening period was Le Mans 24 Hours winner James Calado in the #51 Ferrari. 

He trailed team-mate Fuoco by half a second on the way to 11th position, leaving him one place shy of a place in Hyperpole. 

Bovy puts Iron Dames Lamborghini on LMGT3 pole

#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting

#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting

Photo by: Marco Losi / KAPPAEMEDIA

Sarah Bovy took her first LMGT3 pole position of the season for the Iron Dames squad. 

She posted two laps good enough for pole aboard the Iron Lynx-run Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, her best of 2m20.755s giving her a margin of four tenths over United Autosports McLaren driver Josh Caygill.

The Briton got down to a 2m21.092s aboard his McLaren 720S GT3 Evo to end up just four hundredths up on Ahmad Al Harthy in the fastest of the WRT BMW M4 GT3s. 

Yasser Shahin took fourth for the Manthey EMA Porsche squad ahead of James Cottingham and Ian James in their respective United Autosports McLaren and Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 entries. 

The 12-minute Hyperpole session for the LMGT3 cars was interrupted when Aliaksandr Malykhin crashed heavily at Raidillon in the Manthey PureRxcing Porsche.

The Belarusian lost the 911 RSR in the right-hander at the fast sequence and hit the barriers backwards. 

The British-based driver managed to get out of the car unaided before his transfer to the circuit medical centre. 

David Leung, part of the winning WRT BMW line-up last time out at Imola, failed to make it through to the Hyperpole session, the Briton ending up 13th in the times.  

The Spa 6 Hours, round three of the 2024 WEC, starts at 13:00 local time on Saturday. 

WEC Spa — Hypercar Q2 results:

LMGT3 Q2 results:



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