Ferrari AF Corse’s No. 50 499P has lost its pole position for Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after the car was found to be underweight in the post-qualifying technical checks.
As a result, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 5 963 will start tomorrow’s race from the front. Matt Campbell’s 2m03.107s is the new pole time and the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R has been promoted to the second space on the front row.
Ironically, the delayed pole is Penske’s 100th pole position in sports car racing.
“After having checked the Technical Delegate report, the Stewards considered the minimum car weight did not comply with the relevant regulations. Consequently, the Stewards decided to impose the disqualification of car 50 of the qualifying and Hyperpole sessions and the deletion of the lap time of these sessions,” the official stewards’ bulletin reads.
The Ferrari, which was qualified by Antonio Fuoco, will start at the back of the 19-car Hypercar grid after the penalty.
“The Ferrari 499P number 50 was found to be around 1 kg under the minimum weight mandated by regulations,” the Ferrari team said in a statement. “After a collision with another car during FP3, the 499P number 50’s damaged rear end had to be replaced with a new component, which led to the weight discrepancy discovered on Friday evening.”
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In LMGT3, United Autosports’ No. 95 McLaren which qualified second in class was found to have been underweight too, and will start from the very back of the grid as a result.
The No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 was promoted to second on the grid alongside the pole-winning Iron Dames Lamborghini.