Qualifications: Porsche Triple at Spa-Francorchamps
During the qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Porsche achieved an unprecedented triple. It was the No. 17 car driven by Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard, and Brendon Hartley that secured its second consecutive pole position.
Porsche continues its momentum from Silverstone: after a one-two finish in England, a triple victory was achieved on the Ardennes circuit, once again with the domination of the former Red Bull driver teamed with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley.
But behind the No. 19, which is making its debut this season, it managed to climb to second position. It’s a very promising start for Nico Hülkenberg, who is preparing for his first participation in the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans next month. Alongside Nick Tandy, they recorded the second-best average in these qualifications, just two-tenths behind their teammates. The gap with the No. 18 of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, and Marc Lieb is also tight, as it is only half a second off the pole.
Behind them is the Audi No. 7 driven by the trio Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, and Benoît Tréluyer, which finished 0.7 seconds behind the fastest time. They are well ahead of their teammates in the No. 8 car, which had an accident yesterday, as a full second separates the two Ingolstadt cars.
Then we find the two Toyota cars, No. 1 and No. 2, which are clearly dominated as they are respectively 2.720 and 3.162 seconds behind the leader. The third Audi, No. 9, thus brings up the rear of the LMP1 category.
Nevertheless, if the gaps are significant during the qualifying sessions, the Silverstone race showed that performance over long stints was much closer between the different technologies of the three manufacturers, as only 16 seconds separated the three cars on the Silverstone podium.
If, in addition, the unpredictable weather of Spa-Francorchamps decides to get involved, tomorrow’s race promises to be exciting.
