Kamui Kobayashi claimed pole at Interlagos for the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, with the Japanese driver setting a 1:23.140 to go quickest onboard the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
He beat out his teammate Sebastien Buemi, driving the sister #8 Toyota, who was 0.122 away from Koabyashi. Third was #5 Porsche 963’s Matt Campbell.
In the first part of qualifying, to decide which cars went for pole in Hyperpole, the Porsches were the cars to beat, with a Porsche 1-2, factory driver Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche on top, just a few hundredths ahead of Callum Ilott in the #12 JOTA Porsche.
Campbell’s teammate Kevin Estre, in the sister #6 Porsche, was quickest early on, but Andlauer beat him to the top, putting the top 4 within a tenth. However, with tyres now up to temperature and in the window, the times came tumbling. Andlauer was the first to put in a truly representative lap, a 1:25:437, but this was soon beaten by a flurry of drivers, demoting Andlauer well down the top 10, with Buemi ending that phase fastest on a 1:23.605.
Ilott then beat Buemi by almost three tenths, before Campbell put in his session-topping time, a 1:23.263.
The fastest non-Porsche was the third-placed #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobyashi, followed by the two Ferraris of Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Fuoco. Alex Lynn in the sole Cadillac was next up in seventh, with Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi, BMW’s Robin Frijns, JOTA’s Jenson Button, and Porsche’s Kevin Estre rounding out the top 10.
This put the two Alpines, the Proton Porsche, the BMW of Dries Vanthoor, the satellite Ferrari entry of Robert Shwarzman, both Peugeots, the sole Lamborghini, and the Isotta Fraschini out, meaning they would not get into Hyperpole.
Moving into Hyperpole, though, and the Toyotas showed their true hand, removing the last sandbag.
#7 Toyota’s Kobyashi set the session-topping pole time, 1:23.140, early on, which no one was able to beat. While the Porsches tried hard, both Campbell and Estre, plus Ilott and Button in the two JOTA-run cars, couldn’t quitte find what they needed to beat the Japanese-German team.
While Campbell was second behind Kobyashi for much of the session, #8 Toyota’s Buemi came in and stole that off the Australian, going just 0.122 slower than his teammate. Campbell remained third at the flag, seven hundredths off Buemi, with Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac a further 0.065 off. Porsche’s Estre was fifth, a hundredth off Lynn, while Antonio Fuoco was the fastest Ferrari driver, in the #50 Ferrari 499P, in sixth. Seventh and eighth were the two JOTA Porsches,, Callum Ilott in the #12 JOTA Porsche 963 ahead of Jenson Button in the sister #38 car.
Rounding out the top 10 were Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Ferrari and Robin Frijns in the #20 BMW.
