Toyota has taken an almost assured pole position at the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Six Hours of Silverstone.
The team’s lap is still surrounded in uncertainty, despite the #7 TS030 Hybrid driven by Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre setting the fastest qualifying time in damp conditions as the session was characterised by a timing glitch which saw no times recorded.
However, the team remains confident it will keep its grid slot ahead of tomorrow’s race.
Lapierre believes he and Wurz were ahead ‘by miles’ from the sister car and reigning champion Audi’s R18 E-Tron due to gauging the changeable British spring weather conditions correctly.
"We are on pole by miles for sure, because we got the conditions right,” he told Autosport.
"We went from intermediates to slicks, whereas our other car went inters-inters and the Audis, we think, wets to slicks.
In the other categories taking part at this weekend’s race, the G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan 03 driven by Antonio Pizzonia and James Walker is expected to take pole in LMP2, with the fastest GTE Pro time being set by the Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Pedro Lamy and Frederic Makowiecki.
UPDATE: Toyota has had its pole position at the Six Hours of Silverstone confirmed some four and a half hours after the qualifying session finished, with the sister car shared between Anthony Davidson, Stephane Sarrazine and Sebastien Buemi lining up alongside in second.
Qualifying results – Six Hours of Silverstone
1.Lapierre-Wurz (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) – Toyota – 1'48"021
2.Davidson-Buemi-Sarrazin (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) – Toyota – 1'49"995
3.Kristensen-Duval-McNish (Audi R18 e-tron) – Audi – 1'51"283
4.Prost-Jani-Heidfeld (Lola B12/60-Toyota) – Rebellion – 1'52"124
5.Treluyer-Lotterer-Fassler (Audi R18 e-tron) – Audi – 1'53"488
6.Belicchi-Beche-Cheng (Lola B12/60-Toyota) – Rebellion – 1'53"835
7.Graves-Pizzonia-Walker (Oreca03-Nissan) – ADR Delta – 1'55"148
8.Pla-Heinemeier Hansson-Brundle (Morgan-Nissan) – Oak – 1'57"629
9.Rusinov-Martin-Conway (Oreca03-Nissan) – G drive – 1'57"697
10.Baguette-Gonzales-Plowman (Morgan-Nissan) – Oak – 1'58"729
11.Turner-Mucke-Senna (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'00"566
12.Dalla Lana-Makowiecki-Lamy (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'00"772
13.Goethe-Hall-Campbell Walter (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'01"158
14.Bergmeister-Pilet-Bernhard (Porsche 911 RSR) - Manthey - 2'01"308
15.Lieb-Lietz-Dumas (Porsche 911 RSR) - Manthey - 2'01"452
16.Bruni-Fisichella (Ferrari F458) - AF Corse - 2'01"512
17.Nygaard-Poulsen-Simonsen (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'01"544
18.Holzer-Kraihamer-Charouz (Lotus T128) - Lotus - 2'01"555
19.Kobayashi-Vilander (Ferrari F458) - AF Corse - 2'01"803
20.Weeda-Liuzzi-Bouchut (Lotus T128) - Lotus - 2'02"144
21.Gerber-Griffin-Cioci (Ferrari F458) - AF Corse - 2'02"396
22.Perez Companc-Minassian-Kaffer (Oreca03-Nissan) – Pecom – 2'02"454
23.Potolicchio-Aguas-Peter (Ferrari F458) - 8 Star - 2'02"513
24.Bornhauser-Canal-Rees (Chevrolet Corvette C6) – Larbre – 2'02"862
25.Imperatori-Howson-Ka To (Morgan-Nissan) – KCMG – 2'02"991
26.Narac-Bourret-Vernay (Porsche 911 RSR) - IMSA - 2'04"176
27.Dyson-Marsal-Kimber-Smith (Zytek Z11SN-Nissan) - Greaves - 2'04"491
28.Krohn-Jonson-Mediani (Ferrari F458) - Krohn - 2'05"482
29.Nicolet-Merlin (Morgan-Nissan) – Oak – 2'10"475
30.Leventis-Watts-Kane (HPD ARX 03a–Honda) – Strakka – no average time
The team’s lap is still surrounded in uncertainty, despite the #7 TS030 Hybrid driven by Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre setting the fastest qualifying time in damp conditions as the session was characterised by a timing glitch which saw no times recorded.
However, the team remains confident it will keep its grid slot ahead of tomorrow’s race.
Lapierre believes he and Wurz were ahead ‘by miles’ from the sister car and reigning champion Audi’s R18 E-Tron due to gauging the changeable British spring weather conditions correctly.
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| Toyota has started the 2013 WEC season on the right foot (Photo: Toyota Motorsport) |
"We are on pole by miles for sure, because we got the conditions right,” he told Autosport.
"We went from intermediates to slicks, whereas our other car went inters-inters and the Audis, we think, wets to slicks.
In the other categories taking part at this weekend’s race, the G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan 03 driven by Antonio Pizzonia and James Walker is expected to take pole in LMP2, with the fastest GTE Pro time being set by the Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Pedro Lamy and Frederic Makowiecki.
UPDATE: Toyota has had its pole position at the Six Hours of Silverstone confirmed some four and a half hours after the qualifying session finished, with the sister car shared between Anthony Davidson, Stephane Sarrazine and Sebastien Buemi lining up alongside in second.
Qualifying results – Six Hours of Silverstone
1.Lapierre-Wurz (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) – Toyota – 1'48"021
2.Davidson-Buemi-Sarrazin (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) – Toyota – 1'49"995
3.Kristensen-Duval-McNish (Audi R18 e-tron) – Audi – 1'51"283
4.Prost-Jani-Heidfeld (Lola B12/60-Toyota) – Rebellion – 1'52"124
5.Treluyer-Lotterer-Fassler (Audi R18 e-tron) – Audi – 1'53"488
6.Belicchi-Beche-Cheng (Lola B12/60-Toyota) – Rebellion – 1'53"835
7.Graves-Pizzonia-Walker (Oreca03-Nissan) – ADR Delta – 1'55"148
8.Pla-Heinemeier Hansson-Brundle (Morgan-Nissan) – Oak – 1'57"629
9.Rusinov-Martin-Conway (Oreca03-Nissan) – G drive – 1'57"697
10.Baguette-Gonzales-Plowman (Morgan-Nissan) – Oak – 1'58"729
11.Turner-Mucke-Senna (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'00"566
12.Dalla Lana-Makowiecki-Lamy (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'00"772
13.Goethe-Hall-Campbell Walter (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'01"158
14.Bergmeister-Pilet-Bernhard (Porsche 911 RSR) - Manthey - 2'01"308
15.Lieb-Lietz-Dumas (Porsche 911 RSR) - Manthey - 2'01"452
16.Bruni-Fisichella (Ferrari F458) - AF Corse - 2'01"512
17.Nygaard-Poulsen-Simonsen (Aston Martin Vantage) – Aston Martin – 2'01"544
18.Holzer-Kraihamer-Charouz (Lotus T128) - Lotus - 2'01"555
19.Kobayashi-Vilander (Ferrari F458) - AF Corse - 2'01"803
20.Weeda-Liuzzi-Bouchut (Lotus T128) - Lotus - 2'02"144
21.Gerber-Griffin-Cioci (Ferrari F458) - AF Corse - 2'02"396
22.Perez Companc-Minassian-Kaffer (Oreca03-Nissan) – Pecom – 2'02"454
23.Potolicchio-Aguas-Peter (Ferrari F458) - 8 Star - 2'02"513
24.Bornhauser-Canal-Rees (Chevrolet Corvette C6) – Larbre – 2'02"862
25.Imperatori-Howson-Ka To (Morgan-Nissan) – KCMG – 2'02"991
26.Narac-Bourret-Vernay (Porsche 911 RSR) - IMSA - 2'04"176
27.Dyson-Marsal-Kimber-Smith (Zytek Z11SN-Nissan) - Greaves - 2'04"491
28.Krohn-Jonson-Mediani (Ferrari F458) - Krohn - 2'05"482
29.Nicolet-Merlin (Morgan-Nissan) – Oak – 2'10"475
30.Leventis-Watts-Kane (HPD ARX 03a–Honda) – Strakka – no average time