Toyota Gazoo Racing has locked out the front row for the 2024 FIA WEC 6 Hours of São Paulo after a dominant performance in Hypercar Hyperpole from the pair of GR010 HYBRIDs.
The quickest of the two was the No. 7, with Kamui Kobayashi scoring the Japanese brand its first pole of the season with a 1m23.140s set with 3.5m remaining.
The other nine drivers in the final shootout pushed hard to better that lap on their final flyers but lost chunks of time in the tight, twisty second sector as the peak performance from the tires faded.
Sebastien Buemi would come close in the sister car, but the Swiss could only manage a 1m23.262s to claim second spot on the grid.
“We got the best possible result as a team,” Kobayashi said. “Me and Seb certainly enjoyed it today. We had an amazing car, and it was fun to drive, especially because Interlagos is such a great track. We have struggled a bit in qualifying at times this season because the competition is really strong, but finally we have a pole position which is a fantastic feeling. After Le Mans, the team made a big effort for this race.”
Row two for Sunday’s race will be occupied by the No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 driven by Matt Campbell and the Cadillac V-Series.R steered by Alex Lynn.
The second factory Porsche — the championship leader — took fifth alongside the Le Mans-winning No. 50 Ferrari that ended up 0.4s off pole with Antonio Fuoco at the controls.
Both JOTA Porsches will start seventh and eighth, while the No. 51 Ferrari will line up ninth in front of the No. 20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 that could only manage 10th.
It was a tough qualifying session for the French manufacturers. Neither Alpine nor Peugeot got a car into the top 10 during qualifying, with the No. 36 A424 coming closest, qualifying 11th after missing out by under 0.2s.
The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari also didn’t get in and will start 15th behind the No. 15 WRT BMW that, unlike the sister car, was unable to sneak into the top 10.
LMGT3 saw Sarah Bovy and Iron Dames storm to pole position for the second time this season
The Belgian, who topped qualifying to set the Hyperpole field, set a blistering 1m34.413s in the final shootout to get the better of the two United McLarens and the Pure Rxcing Porsche which found themselves in contention for pole.
The time was just shy of 0.4s up on the Pure Rxcing 911, which will start alongside the No. 85 Lamborghini on the front row after multiple improvements during the Hyperpole session from Alex Malykhin.
“Taking pole at Sao Paulo feels different because it is a track synonymous with Ayrton Senna,” Bovy said. “I’m a bit emotional right now because this is very special. Thank you very much to the entire team for giving me a great car again and I can’t wait go racing tomorrow.”
Row two on the grid will be occupied by the two United McLaren GT3 Evos, with Josh Caygill putting the No. 95 third and James Cottingham putting the No. 59 fourth with times under 0.5s off pole.
Fifth was the Manthey EMA Porsche, which is joint top in the championship standings and is carrying the most success ballast this weekend.
The No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3, another car in contention for the title, will start sixth.
Only nine cars set times in the Hyperpole for the LMGT3 category, as Thomas Flohr in the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari was forced to park up early for causing a red flag.
Flohr had a spin at Turn 5 on cold tires at the start of the session, avoided the advertising boards on the apex, but ended up stranded on the apex, bringing the session to a halt with 8m remaining. The No. 54 will start 10th as a result.
Ahead of Hyperpole for the GT3 cars, a couple of key cars failed to make the cut in the first qualifying session. The No. 77 Proton Competition Mustang and No. 46 WRT BMW ended up 11th and 12th after Ryan Hardwick and Ahmad Al Harthy’s efforts respectively.
Christian Ried on his return to the cockpit ended up 17th in the No. 88 Proton Mustang.
Sunday’s race is set to start at 11:30 a.m. local time in Brazil.