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WEC Sao Paulo: Kobayashi claims pole in Toyota 1-2

Toyota claimed its first pole position of the 2024 World Endurance Championship campaign as it blocked out the front row for Sunday’s Sao Paulo 6 Hours.

Kamui Kobayashi took the top spot in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID in the 10-minute Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

The Japanese driver’s 1m23.140s around the Interlagos circuit gave him a a margin of just over one tenth from team-mate Sebastien Buemi in the sister #8 Toyota Le Mans Hypercar.

Buemi, who was qualifying a Toyota for the first time since the 2019/20 WEC series opener at Silverstone, jumped to second with a 1m23.262s.

Matt Campbell, bidding for a third pole in five races this season, ended up third in the best of the factory Penske-run Porsche 963 LMDhs on a 1m23.331s.

Alex Lynn took fourth position for Cadillac, the Brit setting a 1m23.396s in the solo Ganassi-run V-Series.R LMDh.

The second Porsche Penske Motorsport entry with Le Mans 24 Hours pole winner Kevin Estre driving took fifth position on a 1m23.408s.

Top Ferrari driver was Antonio Fuoco in the Le Mans-winning entry in sixth with a 1m23.532s in the #50 499P LMH.

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Callum Ilott claimed seventh for the Jota customer Porsche team ahead of team-mate Jenson Button in the British team’s sister entry, just six hundredths separating the two cars.

The second AF Corse-run factory Ferrari ended up ninth in the hands of Alessandro Pier Guidi, while Robin Frijns, whose late lap had sent him through to the final round of qualifying, ended up 10th in the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh.

The Dutch driver’s 1m24.078s was, however, still within a second of the pace.

Neither Alpine nor Peugeot made it through to Hyperpole after failing to get in the top 10 positions in the 12-minute opening session.

Mick Schumacher ended up 11th in the best of the Alpine A424 LMDhs and team-mate Charles Milesi 13th in the sister car, though both cars were within seven tenths of Campbell who topped the times in Q1.

The two Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs were 16th and 17th in the hands of Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Lamborghini on top in LMGT3

Sarah Bovy took a second LMGT3 class pole of the year in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2: Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

She posted a 1m34.413s in the Iron Lynx-run car to end up nearly four tenths clear of the 1m34.804s with which Aliaksandr Malykhin claimed second in the Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3-R during the 10-minute Hyperpole session.

The two United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos took third and fourth on the grid, Josh Caygill edging out James Cottingham by just five hundredths of a second.

Yasser Shahin took fifth in the championship-leading Manthey EMA Porsche despite carrying 45kg of success ballast.

The Sao Paulo 6 Hours, round five of the 2024 WEC, begins at 11:30 local time on Sunday.

WEC Sao Paulo - Hypercar Hyperpole results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Team # Drivers Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
7 United Kingdom M. Conway Japan K. Kobayashi Netherlands N. de Vries Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 7

1'23.140

  186.581
2
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
8 Switzerland S. Buemi New Zealand B. Hartley Japan R. Hirakawa Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 7

+0.122

1'23.262

0.122 186.308
3
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
5 Australia M. Campbell Denmark M. Christensen France F. Makowiecki Porsche 963 7

+0.191

1'23.331

0.069 186.154
4
CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR
2 New Zealand E. Bamber United Kingdom A. Lynn Cadillac V-Series.R 6

+0.256

1'23.396

0.065 186.008
5
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
6 France K. Estre Germany A. Lotterer Belgium L. Vanthoor Porsche 963 7

+0.268

1'23.408

0.012 185.982
6
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
50 Italy A. Fuoco Spain M. Molina Denmark N. Nielsen Ferrari 499P 7

+0.392

1'23.532

0.124 185.706
7
HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR
12 United Kingdom W. Stevens United Kingdom C. Ilott France N. Nato Porsche 963 7

+0.499

1'23.639

0.107 185.468
8
HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR
38 United Kingdom J. Button United Kingdom P. Hanson Denmark O. Rasmussen Porsche 963 7

+0.561

1'23.701

0.062 185.331
9
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
51 Italy A. Pier Guidi United Kingdom J. Calado Italy A. Giovinazzi Ferrari 499P 7

+0.770

1'23.910

0.209 184.869
10
BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR
20 South Africa S. Van Der Linde Netherlands R. Frijns Germany R. Rast BMW M Hybrid V8 7

+0.938

1'24.078

0.168 184.500

WEC Sao Paulo - Hypercar LMGT3 results 

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Team # Drivers Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1
IRON DAMES LMGT3
85 Belgium S. Bovy Switzerland R. Frey Denmark M. Gatting Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 6

1'34.413

  164.303
2
Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3
92
A. Malykhin
J. Sturm
Austria K. Bachler
Porsche 911 GT3 R 5

+0.391

1'34.804

0.391 163.626
3
United Autosports LMGT3
95 United Kingdom J. Caygill Chile N. Pino Japan M. Sato McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 7

+0.447

1'34.860

0.056 163.529
4
United Autosports LMGT3
59 J. Cottingham N. Costa Switzerland G. Saucy McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 6

+0.498

1'34.911

0.051 163.441
5
Manthey EMA LMGT3
91
Y. Shahin
M. Schuring
Austria R. Lietz
Porsche 911 GT3 R 6

+1.058

1'35.471

0.560 162.482
6
TEAM WRT LMGT3
31
D. Leung
Indonesia S. Gelael Brazil A. Farfus
BMW M4 GT3 6

+1.149

1'35.562

0.091 162.328
7
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
55 France F. Heriau France S. Mann Italy A. Rovera Ferrari 296 GT3 6

+1.243

1'35.656

0.094 162.168
8
TF Sport LMGT3
81 Belgium T. Van Rompuy Portugal R. Andrade Ireland C. Eastwood Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 7

+1.518

1'35.931

0.275 161.703
9
Heart of Racing Team LMGT3
27 United Kingdom I. James Italy D. Mancinelli Spain A. Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 6

+1.798

1'36.211

0.280 161.233
10
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
54 Switzerland T. Flohr Italy F. Castellacci Italy D. Rigon Ferrari 296 GT3 1

 

   
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