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WEC - Audi take pole for home race in tricky qualifying conditions

23.07.16
WEC - 2016 6 Hours of Nurburgring - Qualifying report
FIA, Motorsport, Mobility, Road Safety, F1, WRC, WEC, WTCC, World RX

The no7 Audi R18 of Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler scored their second pole of the 2016 season and Audi also took a 1-2 qualifying performance for the first time since round 1 at Silverstone to start from the front row for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Nurburgring.

The tricky track conditions had the teams deciding on what tyres to select right at the start of the session.  Mark Webber in the no1 Porsche 919 hybrid set the early pace but the two Audis of Andre Lotterer and Oliver Jarvis soon had the top two spots on the timing screens.  They handed the cars over to Marcel Fassler and Lucas Di Grassi to post the 2 lap average time, with the no7 Audi with a 1m39.444, 0.266s ahead of the no8 R18. 

The two Porsche 919s will start on the second row with the no1 919 0.417s behind the no7 Audi and just 0.032s ahead of the no2 Porsche.  The two Toyota TS050 hybrids will start on row 3 with the no6 Toyota 1.195s behind the lead car and 0.109 ahead of the no5 TS050.

The no13 Rebellion Racing R-One of Alexandre Imperatori and Dominik Kraihamer translated the pace in Free Practice into pole in the LMP1 Privateer class.

In LMP2 the no26 G Drive Racing Oreca 05-Nissan, with Roman Rusinov and Rene Rast, posted the fourth pole position in four events with the Russian-German duo posting an average lap of 1m48.984, 0.743s ahead of their nearest rival, the winners of 24 Hours of Le Mans the no36 Signatech Alpine of Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi. 

The Strakka Racing Gibson will head up row 2, the British team’s average lap of 1m49.762 just 0.035s behind the no36 Alpine-Nissan.  The no43 RBR by Morand Ligier will join the Strakka Gibson on the second row for tomorrow’s race.

Aston Martin Beat Ford to GTE Pole in Germany

The earlier LMGTE qualifying session for the 6 Hours of Nurburgring was decided at the chequered flag as the track started wet and dried out throughout the 20 minute session. 

As the flag was waved to end the session it was the no67 Ford GT of Harry Tincknell that held the top spot with a 2m03.256 average lap time but was knock off, first by teammate Olivier Pla in the no66 Ford but then the French driver was beaten in turn by the no95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Nicki Thiim with an average time of 2m01.712.

The LMGTE Am pole position was also decided in the last seconds of the session.  It was the no88 Abu Dhabi – Proton Racing Porsche of Pat Long which set the best two lap average with a 2m06.011 right at the end of the session, the American driver beating the second GTE Am Porsche, the no88 KCMG Porsche of Wolf Henzler, by just 0.186s.  The no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana was third fastest with a 2m06.372.

The 6 Hours of Nurburgring will take place on Sunday 23 July with the start at 13h00.

CLICK HERE for the results from Qualifying