Kazuki Nakajima has produced a stunning lap to give the Toyota TS040 Hybrid pole position for the opening FIA WEC round – the Silverstone 6 Hour.
In what is shaping as an intense battle between the top three LMP1 marques, Toyota grabbed the early bragging rights with a four-lap average of 1:42.774s.
“I am really happy to be on pole position for the first race of the season,” Nakajima said.
“The lap times were very close and I needed to push hard on my last lap to get the lap time. I already had six or seven laps on the tyres.”
The time is taken from Nakajima’s best two laps and the quickest two from his team-mate Alex Wurz as each squad is required to nominate two drivers to perform their qualifying duties.
Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval guided the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro to second with a 1:42.779s average while the #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Neel Jani and Roman Dumas was third fastest with a 1:43.087s four-lap average across its two qualifying pilots.
The second Audi at the hands of Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotter was fourth ahead of the #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre.
Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard were sixth fastest in the heavily fancied #20 Porsche after Webber steamed to the best time of the weekend in the third and final practice session.
“We might have left a bit of performance out there, but the team did a very good job,” said Webber.
“A possible wet race would give us an extra challenge on the operational side as well as on track. Despite the temporary four-wheel drive, any race car on the limit in the wet needs the maximum respect.”
In the LMP2 class, Olivier Pla and Roman Rusinov were fastest in the #26 G-Drive Racing Morgan-Nissan.
VIDEO:Qualifying Highlights
See below for full Silverstone 6 Hour qualifying results
1 | A.Wurz/S.Sarrazin/K.Nakajima | Toyota | 1:42.774 | – |
2 | L.di Grassi/L.Duval/T.Kristensen | Audi | 1:42.779 | 0.005 |
3 | R.Dumas/N.Jani/M.Lieb | Porsche | 1:43.087 | 0.313 |
4 | M.Fässler/A.Lotterer/B.Tréluyer | Audi | 1:43.137 | 0.363 |
5 | A.Davidson/N.Lapierre/S.Buemi | Toyota | 1:43.189 | 0.415 |
6 | T.Bernhard/M.Webber/B.Hartley | Porsche | 1:43.226 | 0.452 |
7 | D.Kraihamer/A.Belicchi/F.Leimer | Lola/Toyota | 1:44.285 | 1.511 |
8 | N.Prost/N.Heidfeld/M.Beche | Lola/Toyota | 1:44.392 | 1.618 |
9 | R.Rusinov/O.Pla/J.Canal | Morgan/Nissan | 1:49.156 | 6.382 |
10 | M.Howson/R.Bradley/T.Matsuda | Oreca/Nissan | 1:49.439 | 6.665 |
11 | K.Ladygin/V.Shaitar/A.Ladygin | Oreca/Nissan | 1:51.236 | 8.462 |
12 | S.Zlobin/N.Minassian/M.Mediani | Oreca/Nissan | 1:51.514 | 8.740 |
13 | G.Bruni/T.Vilander | Ferrari | 1:59.125 | 16.351 |
14 | P.Pilet/J.Bergmeister/N.Tandy | Porsche | 1:59.380 | 16.606 |
15 | M.Holzer/F.Makowiecki/R.Lietz | Porsche | 1:59.717 | 16.943 |
16 | D.Rigon/J.Calado | Ferrari | 1:59.841 | 17.067 |
17 | S.Wyatt/M.Rugolo/S.Bird | Ferrari | 1:59.932 | 17.158 |
18 | D.Turner/S.Mücke | Aston Martin | 1:59.954 | 17.180 |
19 | M.Griffin/Á.Parente | Ferrari | 2:00.216 | 17.442 |
20 | P.D.Lana/P.Lamy/C.Nygaard | Aston Martin | 2:00.923 | 18.149 |
21 | L.P.-Companc/M.Cioci/M.Venturi | Ferrari | 2:00.971 | 18.197 |
22 | K.Poulsen/D.Hansson/N.Thiim | Aston Martin | 2:00.982 | 18.208 |
23 | A.MacDowall/D.O’Young/F.Rees | Aston Martin | 2:01.122 | 18.348 |
24 | F.Perrodo/E.Collard/M.Vaxivière | Porsche | 2:01.886 | 19.112 |
25 | C.Ried/K.Bachler/K.Al Qubaisi | Porsche | 2:01.917 | 19.143 |
26 | J.Mowlem/M.Patterson/B.Collins | Ferrari | 2:01.953 | 19.179 |
27 | E.Potolicchio/G.Roda/P.Ruberti | Ferrari | 2:01.982 | 19.208 |