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The resurgent Audi LMP1 team has ensured another titanic fight against Porsche after taking pole position for Round 7 of the World Endurance Championship at Fuji.
In a busy 20-minute session which saw several different machines at the top, the #8 Audi of Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval prevailed.
The pair, who will be joined by Oliver Jarvis, established a two-lap average of 1:23.57 after responding to the earlier benchmark times set by Toyota.
Audi’s lead R18 e-tron quattro took the pole by a miniscule margin with Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard falling short by 0.02s.
Webber lifted the #1 Porsche a couple of places with a late flurry with just two minutes remaining.
Kiwi Brendon Hartley will join Webber and Bernhard in the 6 Hour race as the trio attempt their late season rival which has seen them move to fourth in the points standings.
Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima were in close attendance, falling just 0.16s short of the pole and will start from third.
The sister TS050 Hybrid of Stephane Sarrazin and Kamui Kobayashi was fourth with the #7 Audi of Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer fifth.
Porsche’s WEC leading #2 machine for Neel Jani and Romain Dumas was anchored down in sixth position, just ahead of the Rebellion R-ONE AER.
In LMP2, the G-Drive Racing Oreca-Nissan of Roman Rusinov, Will Stevens and Alex Brundle claimed pole from the Nissan-powered Signatech Alpine of Gustavo Menezes, Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Richelmi.
Chip Ganassi’s Ford GTs have taken the first two spots in GTE Pro which was topped by Stefan Mucke and Olivier Pla.
The pair led home the sister Ford driven by Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell which pipped the AF Corse Ferrari 488s.
Aston Martin has claimed pole in GTE Am through the Vantage V8 of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda.
Result: LMP qualifying
| Pos | N° | Cat | Driver | Car | T | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Laps | Average | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | LMP1 | Lucas DI GRASSI, Loïc DUVAL, Oliver JARVIS | Audi R18 | M | 1:23.854 | 1:23.286 | 2 | 1’23.570 | |
| 2 | 1 | LMP1 | Timo BERNHARD, Mark WEBBER, Brendon HARTLEY | Porsche 919 Hybrid | M | 1:23.525 | 1:23.665 | 2 | 1’23.595 | +0.025 |
| 3 | 5 | LMP1 | Anthony DAVIDSON, Sébastien BUEMI, Kazuki NAKAJIMA | Toyota TS050 – Hybrid | M | 1:23.996 | 1:23.482 | 2 | 1’23.739 | +0.169 |
| 4 | 6 | LMP1 | Stéphane SARRAZIN, Mike CONWAY, Kamui KOBAYASHI | Toyota TS050 – Hybrid | M | 1:24.324 | 1:23.239 | 2 | 1’23.781 | +0.211 |
| 5 | 7 | LMP1 | Marcel FÄSSLER, André LOTTERER, Benoît TRÉLUYER | Audi R18 | M | 1:24.001 | 1:23.711 | 2 | 1’23.856 | +0.286 |
| 6 | 2 | LMP1 | Romain DUMAS, Neel JANI, Marc LIEB | Porsche 919 Hybrid | M | 1:24.132 | 1:24.136 | 2 | 1’24.134 | +0.564 |
| 7 | 13 | LMP1 | Mathéo TUSCHER, Dominik KRAIHAMER, Alexandre IMPERATORI | Rebellion R-One – AER | D | 1:29.689 | 1:27.986 | 2 | 1’28.837 | +5.267 |
| 8 | 4 | LMP1 | Simon TRUMMER, Oliver WEBB, Pierre KAFFER | CLM P1/01 – AER | D | 1:29.636 | 1:30.019 | 2 | 1’29.827 | +6.257 |
| 9 | 26 | LMP2 | Roman RUSINOV, Alex BRUNDLE, Will STEVENS | Oreca 05 – Nissan | D | 1:31.332 | 1:32.064 | 2 | 1’31.698 | +8.128 |
| 10 | 36 | LMP2 | Gustavo MENEZES, Nicolas LAPIERRE, Stéphane RICHELMI | Alpine A460 – Nissan | D | 1:32.026 | 1:31.813 | 2 | 1’31.919 | +8.349 |
| 11 | 30 | LMP2 | Antonio GIOVINAZZI, Giedo VAN DER GARDE, Sean GELAEL | LIGIER JS P2 – Nissan | D | 1:31.409 | 1:32.482 | 2 | 1’31.945 | +8.375 |
| 12 | 42 | LMP2 | Jonny KANE, Lewis WILLIAMSON, | Gibson 015S – Nissan | D | 1:32.014 | 1:32.000 | 2 | 1’32.007 | +8.437 |
| 13 | 43 | LMP2 | Ricardo GONZALEZ, Filipe ALBUQUERQUE, Bruno SENNA | LIGIER JS P2 – Nissan | D | 1:31.370 | 1:32.886 | 2 | 1’32.128 | +8.558 |
| 14 | 44 | LMP2 | Matthew RAO, Richard BRADLEY, Roberto MERHI | Oreca 05 – Nissan | D | 1:31.460 | 1:32.969 | 2 | 1’32.214 | +8.644 |
| 15 | 45 | LMP2 | Tor GRAVES, Alex LYNN, Shinji NAKANO | Oreca 05 – Nissan | D | 1:31.498 | 1:33.574 | 2 | 1’32.536 | +8.966 |
| 16 | 31 | LMP2 | Ryan DALZIEL, Luis Felipe DERANI, Christopher CUMMING | LIGIER JS P2 – Nissan | D | 1:34.042 | 1:31.823 | 2 | 1’32.932 | +9.362 |
| 17 | 37 | LMP2 | Vitaly PETROV, Kirill LADYGIN, Victor SHAITAR | BR01 – Nissan | D | 1:32.968 | 1:33.125 | 2 | 1’33.046 | +9.476 |
| 18 | 27 | LMP2 | Nicolas MINASSIAN, Maurizio MEDIANI, Mikhail ALESHIN | BR01 – Nissan | D | 1:33.350 | 1:32.917 | 2 | 1’33.133 | +9.563 |
| 19 | 35 | LMP2 | David CHENG, Ho-Pin TUNG, Paul Loup CHATIN | Alpine A460 – Nissan | D | 1:34.656 | 1:32.289 | 2 | 1’33.472 | +9.902 |
Result: GTE qualifying
| Pos | N° | Cat | Driver | Car | T | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Laps | Average | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 66 | LMGTE Pro | Stefan MÜCKE, Olivier PLA, | Ford GT | M | 1:37.546 | 1:37.817 | 2 | 1’37.681 | |
| 2 | 67 | LMGTE Pro | Andy PRIAULX, Harry TINCKNELL, | Ford GT | M | 1:37.732 | 1:37.719 | 2 | 1’37.725 | +0.044 |
| 3 | 71 | LMGTE Pro | Davide RIGON, Sam BIRD, | Ferrari 488 GTE | M | 1:38.088 | 1:37.933 | 2 | 1’38.010 | +0.329 |
| 4 | 51 | LMGTE Pro | Gianmaria BRUNI, James CALADO, | Ferrari 488 GTE | M | 1:38.053 | 1:38.154 | 2 | 1’38.103 | +0.422 |
| 5 | 95 | LMGTE Pro | Nicki THIIM, Marco SØRENSEN, | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | D | 1:37.830 | 1:38.520 | 2 | 1’38.175 | +0.494 |
| 6 | 97 | LMGTE Pro | Richie STANAWAY, Darren TURNER, | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | D | 1:38.130 | 1:38.755 | 2 | 1’38.442 | +0.761 |
| 7 | 77 | LMGTE Pro | Richard LIETZ, Michael CHRISTENSEN, | Porsche 911 RSR (2016) | M | 1:38.550 | 1:39.271 | 2 | 1’38.910 | +1.229 |
| 8 | 98 | LMGTE Am | Paul DALLA LANA, Pedro LAMY, Mathias LAUDA | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | M | 1:38.982 | 1:39.998 | 2 | 1’39.490 | +1.809 |
| 9 | 83 | LMGTE Am | François PERRODO, Emmanuel COLLARD, Rui AGUAS | Ferrari F458 Italia | M | 1:39.161 | 1:40.565 | 2 | 1’39.863 | +2.182 |
| 10 | 50 | LMGTE Am | Yutaka YAMAGISHI, Pierre RAGUES, Ricky TAYLOR | Chevrolet Corvette C7-Z06 | M | 1:39.140 | 1:40.772 | 2 | 1’39.956 | +2.275 |
| 11 | 88 | LMGTE Am | Khaled AL QUBAISI, David HEINEMEIER HANSSON, Patrick LONG | Porsche 911 RSR | M | 1:39.783 | 1:41.392 | 2 | 1’40.587 | +2.906 |
| 12 | 78 | LMGTE Am | Christian RIED, Wolf HENZLER, Joël CAMATHIAS | Porsche 911 RSR | M | 1:40.306 | 1:41.362 | 2 | 1’40.834 | +3.153 |
| 13 | 86 | LMGTE Am | Michael WAINWRIGHT, Adam CARROLL, Benjamin BARKER | Porsche 911 RSR | M | 1:39.566 | 1:43.902 | 2 | 1’41.734 | +4.053 |
