Second consecutive Hyperpole for Antonio Fuocowhich after the best time recorded in the 6 Hours of Imola will once again occupy the first place on the starting grid also at Spa-Francorchamps. The Ferrari driver, who had already convinced in Free Practice yesterday and today, confirmed his form also in qualifying on the Ardennes circuit, finishing well half a second at the Porsche Penske by Matt Campbell and to Alex Lynn’s Cadillacwhich completes the top-3.
The chronicle of the Hypercar class qualification
A test that therefore highlighted the qualities of the Red #50, even if the prancing Horse he can’t completely celebrate the outcome of the Hyperpole in Belgium. In fact, in the first phase of qualifying, the first of two sensational twists took place, with elimination from the top-10 of James Calado. While Kubica managed to access the decisive session for the assignment of pole with the AF Corse #83, the Briton instead missed the target by only 21 thousandths from Lynn’s Cadillac, thus ending prematurely and in 11th position. It got even worse Kamui Kobayashi, who after the risk of a spin did not go beyond 15th placedemonstrating the difficulties encountered by the former Japanese F1 driver with the #7 Toyota
Different story both for Toyota, but above all for Ferrari, in the final phase. Immediately author of the fastest lap in 2:02.600Fuoco defended his virtual pole until the final moments of the session, thanks to a technical problem at the Alpine Charles Milesi which forced the commissioners to expose the yellow flag. Since then, no driver has managed to get close to the Calabrian, with Matt Campbell’s Porsche #5 half a second behind the Red, with which he will thus share the front row. Lynn’s performance was also positive, as after the risk of elimination he missed out on second place by just 8 thousandths of a second. Behind the Briton appears the trio of Porsches from the Proton team, Hertz Jota and Penske, the latter in sixth place with Kevin Estre. Seventh Hartley at the wheel of Toyota, while Kubica will shoot from ninth position along with their teammates Shwartzman and Ye.
The chronicle of the LMGT3 class qualification
Unfortunately, it opened with a bang, literally, theHyperpole of the LMGT3 class. After a few minutes from the start of the decisive phase of the session, with the ten best cars remaining competing for pole position on the track, a very bad accident for Belarusian Alex Malykhin on the Porsche 911 GT3 R #92. The driver – who races under the flag of Saint Kitts & Nevis due to the ban on using the flags of his country of origin – has lost control of the car in the compression of the Eau Rouge and crashed into the barriers outside the Raidillon, disintegrating his car and causing a long red flag. Malykhin – who is part of the crew currently leading the championship in LMGT3 – fortunately he did not suffer serious consequences, although as per practice he was taken to the medical center for checks.
When it was time to get back on track, putting everyone in line once again were the girls of the Iron Dames and in particular the very fast Belgian Sarah Bovy, who was entrusted with the #85 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2. Bovy set the best time, taking pole with a time of 2:20.755. He arrived three tenths further back Josh Caygill with the McLaren of the United Autosport teamwhich in turn preceded the highly anticipated BMW by a handful of thousandths #46 of the WRT teamdriven during the Hyperpole by Ahmad Al Harthy and which obviously also has Valentino Rossi in its crew.
And Ferrari? Further back. The best of the Maranello cars was the #54, the only one to have entered the Hyperpole. The Swiss Thomas Flohr took the seventh fastest time, 8 tenths behind the Dames. Disappointment also for the #31 of Team WRT, second in the championship with the Farfus-Gelael-Leung trio. However, the Englishman himself did not go beyond the 13th time in the initial qualifying phase, thus failing to pass the cut to access the Hyperpole.
