WEC: Kobayashi puts Toyota on pole at Monza
Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi edged out Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco for pole position ahead of this weekend’s Monza round of the WEC World Endurance Championship.
Kobayashi steered the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to a time of 1:35.358 to notch up his second pole of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, while Fuoco split the Japanese cars to put the No. 50 Ferrari 499P on the front row.
However, the Italian driver marginally missed out on delivering a popular home-soil result for Ferrari by just 0.017 seconds.
Kamui Kobayashi set the fastest ever Hypercar lap of the legendary Italian circuit, 1min 35.358secs, to take pole by just 0.017secs in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and José María López.
Brendon Hartley completed a successful afternoon for the team by earning third place, only 0.102secs from pole, in the #8 GR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.
LMP2
In LMP2, Robert Kubica flew to his first career WEC pole driving the No. 41 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson.
The Polish driver, who led the category in Free Practice 2, set successive purple lap times while running on his own and ended up with a 1:39.354 benchmark.
Pietro Fittipaldi was second in the JOTA Oreca, 0.353 seconds down on Kubica, while Phil Hanson jumped to third at the end in the No. 22 United Autosports car.
GTE-Am
Iron Dames driver Sarah Bovy took her second pole of the season in GTE-Am with a time of 1:47.632 behind the wheel of the No. 85 Porsche 911 RSR-19.
Bovy set the pace by a margin of four-tenths, as Ahmad Al Harthy took second for Aston Martin team ORT by TF and Proton Competition Porsche driver Christian Ried who improved right at the end.
Toyota Quotes
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Normally for a six-hour race I always say that pole position doesn’t mean anything. But, coming after Le Mans and with the lap times being so close, getting pole today is brilliant. I am very happy. The traffic wasn’t ideal at the beginning, but I managed to get a clear lap. All Hypercars have been so close here, we couldn’t risk any conservative laps, so I was pushing hard. I was happy in the car, although the track temperature was a bit different compared to this morning which was challenging. The race should be even hotter so it will be interesting in terms of tyre strategy. We have worked hard to understand the degradation and find the best solution. We have a great car this weekend and I’m looking forward to the race, especially in front of the Italian fans. It will be a big battle.”
Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was a very tight session with all the Hypercars and, considering that, we can be somewhat happy with third. The car obviously had the pace for pole, as Kamui showed. He did a good lap and put it all together so congratulations to him. It’s also helpful for the World Championship that he took the point away from our rivals. My lap was a bit compromised because I had another car in front of me on my fastest lap and I lost a bit as when I got too close. But a tenth of a second from pole is nothing and I’m sure everyone out there has a story how they lost a little time here or there. To get both cars into the top three is fantastic and a strong team effort.”
| Pos |
No Drivers |
Team |
Cat |
LMGTE |
LMP2 |
HC |
Time |
Gap |
|
|
1 |
7 M. CONWAY / K. KOBAYASHI / J. LOPEZ |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.358 |
1:35.358 |
||||
|
2 |
50 A. FUOCO / M. MOLINA / N. NIELSEN |
Ferrari AF Corse |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.375 |
1:35.375 |
0.017 |
0.017 |
||
|
3 |
8 S. BUEMI / B. HARTLEY / R. HIRAKAWA |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.460 |
1:35.460 |
0.102 |
0.085 |
||
|
4 |
93 P. DI RESTA / M. JENSEN / J. VERGNE |
Peugeot TotalEnergies |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.662 |
1:35.662 |
0.304 |
0.202 |
||
|
5 |
2 E. BAMBER / A. LYNN / R. WESTBROOK |
Cadillac Racing |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.720 |
1:35.720 |
0.362 |
0.058 |
||
|
6 |
51 A. PIER GUIDI / J. CALADO / A. GIOVINAZZI |
Ferrari AF Corse |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.771 |
1:35.771 |
0.413 |
0.051 |
||
|
7 |
94 L. DUVAL / G. MENEZES / N. MÜLLER |
Peugeot TotalEnergies |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.780 |
1:35.780 |
0.422 |
0.009 |
||
|
8 5 D. CAMERON / M. CHRISTENSEN / F. MAKOWIECKI Porsche Penske Motorsport |
HYPERCAR H |
1:35.973 |
1:35.973 |
0.615 |
0.193 |
||||
|
9 |
38 A. DA COSTA / W. STEVENS / Y. YE |
Hertz Team JOTA |
HYPERCAR H |
1:36.188 |
1:36.188 |
0.830 |
0.215 |
||
|
10 |
6 K. ESTRE / A. LOTTERER / L. VANTHOOR |
Porsche Penske Motorsport |
HYPERCAR H |
1:36.497 |
1:36.497 |
1.139 |
0.309 |
||
|
11 |
708 R. DUMAS / O. PLA / N. BERTHON |
Glickenhaus Racing |
HYPERCAR |
1:36.614 |
1:36.614 |
1.256 |
0.117 |
||
|
12 |
99 G. BRUNI / H. TINCKNELL / N. JANI |
Proton Competition |
HYPERCAR H |
1:36.668 |
1:36.668 |
1.310 |
0.054 |
||
|
13 |
4 E. GUERRIERI / T. VAUTIER / J. DE OLIVEIRA |
Floyd Vanwall Racing Team |
HYPERCAR |
1:38.089 |
1:38.089 |
2.731 |
1.421 |
||
|
14 |
41 R. ANDRADE / R. KUBICA / L. DELÉTRAZ |
Team WRT |
LMP2 |
1:39.354 |
1:39.354 |
3.996 |
1.265 |
||
|
15 28 D. HEINEMEIER-HANSSON / P. FITTIPALDI / O. RASMUSSEN JOTA |
LMP2 |
1:39.707 |
1:39.707 |
4.349 |
0.353 |
||||
|
16 |
22 F. LUBIN / P. HANSON / B. HANLEY |
United Autosports |
LMP2 |
1:39.790 |
1:39.790 |
4.432 |
0.083 |
||
|
17 |
10 R. CULLEN / M. KAISER / G. AUBRY |
Vector Sport |
LMP2 |
1:39.887 |
1:39.887 |
4.529 |
0.097 |
||
|
18 |
34 J. SMIECHOWSKI / F. SCHERER / A. COSTA |
Inter Europol Competition |
LMP2 |
1:39.894 |
1:39.894 |
4.536 |
0.007 |
||
|
19 |
31 S. GELAEL / F. HABSBURG / R. FRIJNS |
Team WRT |
LMP2 |
1:39.957 |
1:39.957 |
4.599 |
0.063 |
||
|
20 |
63 D. PIN / M. BECHE / D. KVYAT |
Prema Racing |
LMP2 |
1:39.976 |
1:39.976 |
4.618 |
0.019 |
||
|
21 |
35 A. NEGRÃO / M. ROJAS / O. CALDWELL |
Alpine Elf Team |
LMP2 |
1:40.061 |
1:40.061 |
4.703 |
0.085 |
||
|
22 |
36 M. VAXIVIERE / J. CANAL / C. MILESI |
Alpine Elf Team |
LMP2 |
1:40.214 |
1:40.214 |
4.856 |
0.153 |
||
|
23 |
9 F. UGRAN / B. VISCAAL / A. CALDARELLI |
Prema Racing |
LMP2 |
1:40.340 |
1:40.340 |
4.982 |
0.126 |
||
|
24 |
23 J. PIERSON / G. VAN DER GARDE / O. JARVIS |
United Autosports |
LMP2 |
1:40.379 |
1:40.379 |
5.021 |
0.039 |
||
|
25 |
85 S. BOVY / M. GATTING / R. FREY |
Iron Dames |
LMGTE Am |
1:47.632 |
1:47.632 |
12.274 |
7.253 |
||
|
26 |
25 A. AL HARTHY / M. DINAN / C. EASTWOOD |
ORT by TF |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.058 |
1:48.058 |
12.700 |
0.426 |
||
|
27 |
77 C. RIED / M. PEDERSEN / J. ANDLAUER |
Dempsey – Proton Racing |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.116 |
1:48.116 |
12.758 |
0.058 |
||
|
28 |
83 L. PEREZ COMPANC / L. WADOUX / A. ROVERA |
Richard Mille AF Corse |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.221 |
1:48.221 |
12.863 |
0.105 |
||
|
29 |
86 M. WAINWRIGHT / R. PERA / B. BARKER |
GR Racing |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.464 |
1:48.464 |
13.106 |
0.243 |
||
|
30 |
33 B. KEATING / N. VARRONE / N. CATSBURG |
Corvette Racing |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.519 |
1:48.519 |
13.161 |
0.055 |
||
|
31 |
54 T. FLOHR / F. CASTELLACCI / D. RIGON |
AF Corse |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.599 |
1:48.599 |
13.241 |
0.080 |
||
|
32 |
21 J. PIGUET / S. MANN / U. DE PAUW |
AF Corse |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.713 |
1:48.713 |
13.355 |
0.114 |
||
|
33 |
57 T. KIMURA / S. HUFFAKER / K. COZZOLINO |
Kessel Racing |
LMGTE Am |
1:48.962 |
1:48.962 |
13.604 |
0.249 |
||
|
34 56 E. CASTRO / G. MOURA DE OLIVEIRA / M. CAIROLI Project 1 – AO |
LMGTE Am |
1:49.232 |
1:49.232 |
13.874 |
0.270 |
||||
|
35 777 S. HOSHINO / C. STEVENSON / T. FUJII |
D’Station Racing |
LMGTE Am |
1:49.509 |
1:49.509 |
14.151 |
0.277 |
|||
|
36 60 C. SCHIAVONI / M. CRESSONI / A. PICARIELLO |
Iron Lynx |
LMGTE Am |
1:49.883 |
1:49.883 |
14.525 |
0.374 |
|||