Henri Dubois · Endurance Correspondent
Antonio Fuoco takes pole for the WEC finale at Monza in the #50 Ferrari. In LMGT3, Hadrien David in the #78 Lexus is just 0.014 seconds ahead of title favourite Jonny Edgar.
Ferrari will start the 6 Hours of Monza from pole position on Sunday. Antonio Fuoco lapped the Autodromo Nazionale in 1:33.364 in Hyperpole on Saturday afternoon in the #50 499P of Ferrari AF Corse, 0.096 seconds quicker than Mathieu Jaminet in the #19 Genesis. For the two Toyotas, whose crews will settle the drivers’ title between them on Sunday, the afternoon was already over after the first qualifying session: the #8 of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa starts 14th, while the #7 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries only starts 17th after a penalty, the last of the Hypercars. With temperatures around 10 degrees and a track that was only slowly drying after the wet morning, setting a lap time was a balancing act between tyre temperature and grip for every team.
Ferrari in front, the field closely matched
Ferrari had already been the benchmark in qualifying, which decided the ten places in Hyperpole, with a 1:33.400. In Hyperpole itself, the top five were then covered by 0.253 seconds: behind Fuoco and Jaminet, Earl Bamber put the #38 Cadillac of Cadillac Hertz Team Jota third (plus 0.177), Antonio Giovinazzi took the second works Ferrari, the #51, to fourth (plus 0.209), and Théo Pourchaire completed the top five in the #94 Peugeot. Fourth place for the #51 is particularly remarkable, as the car had managed only seven laps in third practice because of a brake problem. Behind them came Victor Martins in the #36 Alpine, Norman Nato in the second Cadillac, the #12, Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, Nick Cassidy in the #93 Peugeot and Sheldon van der Linde in the #20 BMW, the only BMW in the top ten.
The #35 Alpine narrowly missed out, falling short of Hyperpole by 0.074 seconds in eleventh. Behind it were the two Aston Martin Valkyries, the #009 and #007, with the second Genesis, the #17, between them. The #15 BMW was last in the Hypercar class with a 1:35.339.
Toyota must fight the title duel from the back
Hirakawa set the quicker of the two Toyota times in the #8 with a 1:34.734, while Kobayashi was a good three tenths slower in the #7. For now, that does not change the situation in the title fight: the #8 goes into the race on 114 points, 17 clear of its sister car, and neither crew took the extra point for pole. Over six hours with several driver changes and pit stops, starting positions in the middle of the field are no verdict. For the #7, however, a penalty followed after qualifying: the stewards moved Kobayashi back three places on the grid because he had repeatedly impeded Harry Tincknell in the #007 Aston Martin on a fast lap, the last time while warming his tyres on the approach to Turn 11. As a result, the #7 starts three places behind its sister car. Tincknell was also dropped one grid place because, after a trip through the escape road, he held up Pourchaire in the #94 Peugeot on a fast lap, so the #007 starts 15th. No penalty was published against Pourchaire, who had also been summoned, and he starts fifth as qualified.
LMGT3: Lexus ahead of the Corvette, WRT out of the title race
LMGT3 qualifying began with an interruption: François Hériau lost the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari on his very first lap out of the pits at the Ascari chicane and hit the barrier, leaving the #21 without a time. The fastest time in the first session was set by Peter Dempsey in the #34 Corvette of Racing Team Turkey by TF with a 1:48.440. The #10 McLaren of Garage 59 was also left without a valid time after its driver Antares Au was caught speeding in the pit lane, earning him a 1,200 euro fine and the deletion of his subsequent lap times.
Hyperpole was then decided by the narrowest of margins. Hadrien David put the #78 Lexus of Akkodis ASP Team on pole with a 1:47.523, 0.014 seconds ahead of Jonny Edgar in the #33 Corvette of TF Sport and 0.072 ahead of Ben Tuck in the #77 Proton Competition Ford. Eduardo Barrichello was fourth in the #23 Aston Martin after his fastest lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4. According to Sportscar365, it would have been almost half a second quicker than David’s best time.
For the title fight, Edgar’s second place is a good omen. TF Sport leads the teams’ standings with 92 points, and Edgar leads the drivers’ standings with 92 ahead of his teammate Nicky Catsburg. The closest challenger, the #92 Porsche of The Bend Manthey on 74 points, missed Hyperpole by 0.078 seconds and starts eleventh in class, with Racing Team Turkey by TF (70 points) tenth. For the #69 BMW of Team WRT, on the other hand, the sums no longer add up: Anthony McIntosh picked up three track limits violations in qualifying and could do no better than 16th, so the pole point went elsewhere. On 66 points and 26 behind, even a win worth 25 points is no longer enough to catch TF Sport.
The six-hour race starts at 11am on Sunday. Then it will no longer be about one quick lap on cold tyres, but about consistency over double stints, clean driver changes and strategy at the right moment.
