Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kamui Kobayashi won pole position for tomorrow’s Six Hours of Monza, interrupting the homecoming party for Ferrari after its landmark victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
13 cars were battling for pole position in the premier Hypercar category, but the number seven Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez stood on top of the timesheets – by just 0.017 seconds from the number 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen.The top three qualifiers, including the number eight Toyota of Brendon Hartley, crossed the start/finish line just metres apart from each other on their flying laps. Kobayashi, in the middle of the queue, set a new Hypercar lap record with his time of 1’35.358.
Hartley and co-drivers Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa lead the Hypercar championship standings by 25 points after their frustrating runner-up finish at Le Mans last month.
Jean-Eric Vergne was fourth-fastest in the number 93 Peugeot 9X8. Vergne had set the fastest time in the morning’s free practice session, unlocking more of the Peugeot’s potential.
Alex Lynn was fifth-fastest in the number two Cadillac V-Series.R, and in sixth place, four-tenths off the pole, was the Le Mans-winning number 51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and James Calado.
The number 94 Peugeot of Gustavo Menezes was just behind him in seventh, followed by the factory-run #6 Penske Porsche 963 of Frederic Makowiecki, and the privateer-run number 38 Team Jota Porsche of Yifei Ye, with the number five Penske Porsche of Kevin Estre completing the top ten.
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Last year’s surprise pole-winning car, the number 708 Glickenhaus 007 of Olivier Pla, qualified 11th this time out, 1.2 seconds behind the pole time and over a second away from co-driver Romain Dumas’ pole-winning lap time.
The Hypercar field grew by one this weekend with the addition of another privateer-run Porsche 963, from German team Proton Competition. Harry Tincknell qualified 12th in the number 99 Porsche, nearly a second and a half up on the number four Vanwall Vandervell 680 of Esteban Guerrieri.
In LMP2, Robert Kubica won his first pole position in the championship-leading number 41 Team WRT Oreca 07/Gibson.
Sarah Bovy won her second pole of the season in GTE Am in the number 85 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19. Corvette Racing can win the GTE Am championship tomorrow with at least a second place finish.
| Pos | No. | Class | Team | Car | Drivers | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Hypercar (H) | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota GR010 | Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Jose Maria Lopez | 1’35.358 |
| 2 | 50 | Hypercar (H) | Ferrari AF Corse | Ferrari 499P | Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen | 1’35.375 |
| 3 | 8 | Hypercar (H) | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota GR010 | Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa | 1’35.460 |
| 4 | 93 | Hypercar (H) | Peugeot Totalenergies | Peugeot 9X8 | Paul di Resta/Mikkel Jensen/Jean-Eric Vergne | 1’35.662 |
| 5 | 2 | Hypercar (H) | Cadillac Racing | Cadillac V-Series.R | Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook | 1’35.720 |
| 6 | 51 | Hypercar (H) | Ferrari AF Corse | Ferrari 499P | Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi | 1’35.771 |
| 7 | 94 | Hypercar (H) | Peugeot Totalenergies | Peugeot 9X8 | Loic Duval/Gustavo Menezes/Nico Mueller | 1’35.780 |
| 8 | 5 | Hypercar (H) | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Porsche 963 | Dane Cameron/Michael Christensen/Frederic Makowiecki | 1’35.973 |
| 9 | 38 | Hypercar (H) | Hertz Team JOTA | Porsche 963 | Antonio Felix Da Costa/Will Stevens/Yifei Ye | 1’36.188 |
| 10 | 6 | Hypercar (H) | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Porsche 963 | Kevin Estre/Andre Lotterer/Laurens Vanthoor | 1’36.497 |
| 11 | 708 | Hypercar | Glickenhaus Racing | Glickenhaus 007 | Romain Dumas/Olivier Pla/Nathanael Berthon | 1’36.614 |
| 12 | 99 | Hypercar (H) | Proton Competition | Porsche 963 | Gianmaria Bruni/Harry Tincknell/Neel Jani | 1’36.668 |
| 13 | 4 | Hypercar | Floyd Vanwall Racing Team | Vanwall Vandervell 680 | Esteban Guerrieri/Tristan Vautier/Joao Paulo de Oliveira | 1’38.089 |
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World Endurance Championship
- Toyota survives chaotic start for one-two win at home
- Kobayashi leads all-Toyota front row in Fuji qualifying
- Ferrari to celebrate 2023 Le Mans win with Italian GP livery tweak
- Ferrari say they were “put at a disadvantage to their rivals” at Monza Six Hours
- Toyota returns to winning ways by beating Ferrari in Monza Six Hours
Nick T.
8th July 2023, 19:51
Love Kobayshi. Very exciting driver.
Prashanth Ramadas
16th July 2023, 0:05
Mark Webber is considered as one of the best racing drivers of all time.