The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps polesitting car, the #50 Ferrari 499P, has been disqualified from qualifying for being underweight, the FIA World Endurance Championship stewards have announced.
The car was found to be underweight during post-qualifying scrutineering, and as a result has been sent to the back of the Hypercar grid. This promotes the Penske-run factory #5 Porsche 963 to pole position — Penske 100th sportscar pole position — with the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R alongside in second.
Antonio Fuoco initially set the ‘pole’ lap in the #50 Ferrari, a 2:02.600. However, with the Ferrari being demoted from pole to the back of the Hypercar grid, this means Matt Campbell’s lap of 2:03.107, onboard the #5 Porsche, becomes the new pole lap for this year’s race.
A Ferrari spokesperson said: “Following post-qualifying and Hyperpole scrutineering at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the Ferrari 499P number 50 was found to be around 1 kg under the minimum weight mandated by regulations.
“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.
“The Stewards’ decision to delete all the times recorded in the two sessions means that the Maranello Le Mans Hypercar will start from nineteenth position, last in class.”
Fred Makowiecki will start the #5 Porsche from pole, with #2 Cadillac’s Alex Lynn, who also qualified the car, in second. Third will be Julien Andlauer in the #99 Proton Competition Porsche, with Will Stevens in the #12 JOTA Porsche in fifth and the #6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor in fifth.
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