Audi locked out the front row at COTA, with Toyota giving Porsche an almighty scare and set the Japanese manufacturer up perfectly for six hours of racing tomorrow.
Temperatures were at a premium at the Circuit of the Americas, with ambient temperatures having a particular effect on drivers in terms of heat stroke – some seeking medical attention in preparation for the race.
An open door would pose an opening lap
issue for the CLM ByKolles entry whilst Loic Duval had his own problem’s trying to
pass the RGR Ligier. It wouldn’t take Duval long however to shoot to the top of the order in the number eight Audi, just nine hundredths of a second ahead of the sister entry of Marcel Fassler.
Neel Jani and Timo Bernhard would bring up third and fourth for Porsche, around three-tenths of the pace of the Audis. Porsche would throw more tyres at their 919’s in the quest to topple Audi for pole,
but Toyota meanwhile appeared to be conserving tyres for the race knowing they wouldn’t be in the hunt for pole position.
Toyota would somehow pull a blinder, with
Kamui Kobayashi leap-frogging the Porsche’s with three minutes remaining to take a provisional third on old tyres. Brendon Hartley Romain Dumas would retake the spot, but would give Porsche serious food for thought having used so much rubber.
The number 13 Rebellion Racing would take the LMP1 privateer pole by nine tenths over the number four CLM ByKolles entry.
Roberto Merhi was using his specialist sills around COTA to provisionally top the LMP2 order while Alex Brundle would lose a lap in the G-Drive Oreca 05 for breaching track limits.
Merhi would be usurped quickly by the RGR Sport Ligier of Bruno Senna, followed closely by the Signatech Apline of Gustavo Menezes. Signatech would eventually take honours ahead of Manor and RGR Sport Ligier
Marco Sorensen and Fernando Rees was first to post competitive times for Aston Martin in LMGTE Pro, only to be usurped immediately by the AF Corse Ferrari 488 of Davide Rigon despite the top five only being separated by a mere half a second.
Gianmaria Bruni would soon make it a provisional 1-2 for Ferrari with James Calado and Sam Bird taking over second-driver duties. The bigger front-splitter on the 488 looked to be doing the business.
In the dying seconds, Nicki Thiim would secure pole for Team AMR, followed by Sam Bird and the Chip Ganassi Ford GT of Olivier Pla.
Pedro Lamy would back up Aston Martin’s effort in GTE Am, followed closely by IMSA GT pole man Ricky Taylor in the Larbre Competition Corvette C7 –Z06. However, it would be Pail Dalla Lana that would secure a double pole for AMR ahead of the Abu Dhabi Proton Porsche of Khaled Al Qubaisi.
Qualifying - 6 Hrs of COTA