The Hertz Team JOTA Cadillacs take 1-2 for the 6 Hours of São Paulo, with Aston Martin taking pole in the LMGT3 category. Will Stevens in the #12 Cadillac set the fastest lap in Hyperpole, with the sister #38 Cadillac with Jack Aitken behind the wheel getting into P2 just seconds after the chequered flag. In LMGT3, it’s the #23 Aston Martin and #79 Mercedes on the front row for the race start of the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship this season.
Cadillac locked out the front row for the 6 Hours of São Paulo after Will Stevens snatched pole position away from JOTA team-mate Jack Aitken in the closing moments of Hyperpole. Stevens’ final lap of 1:23.041 was just 0.048s quicker, giving the #12 Cadillac the top spot on the grid. This qualifying result repeated last year’s São Paulo qualifying, where the #12 and #38 finished 1-2, respectively, as well.
Alpine emerged as Cadillac’s closest challenger, with Victor Martins qualifying third ahead of the #15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor. Charles Miles completed the top five in the second Alpine, while the #19 Genesis continued its encouraging pace by securing sixth ahead of the leading Ferrari, the #50, driven by Antonio Fuoco. The top 10 Hyperpole runners were covered by less than six-tenths of a second.
Toyota endured a disappointing qualifying session, with both GR010 Hybrids eliminated in the first session despite arriving in Brazil fresh from victory at Le Mans. Ryo Hirakawa qualified 14th after running wide at Turn 1, while Kamui Kobayashi could only manage 16th. Antonio Giovinazzi also suffered an early exit in the #51 Ferrari, as just 0.739s covered the entire 17-car Hypercar field in the opening session.
Aston Martin #23 gets pole in LMGT3
Heart of Racing claimed its second consecutive LMGT3 pole of the season, this time with the #23 Aston Martin. After Gray Newell progressed the car into Hyperpole, Kobe Pauwels delivered two strong laps, with his quickest effort finishing almost two tenths clear of the competition.
Lin Hodenius secured second for Iron Lynx in the Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Clemens Schmid completed the top three for Akkodis ASP Lexus. Parker Thompson put the WRT BMW fourth, with Ben Tuck fifth in the Proton Competition Ford Mustang, as just 0.009s separated third to fifth.
Ford, BMW and Mercedes each placed both of their entries into Hyperpole, while Porsche and Corvette were represented by a single car in the final session, finishing seventh and tenth respectively. The result underlined the close competition in LMGT3, with six different manufacturers featured inside the top six.
Discussion about this post