The #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid has claimed pole position for round 6 of the World Endurance Championship at Shanghai.
After mixed conditions in practice which saw Toyota and Porsche head the times, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani topped qualifying for the 6 Hour race.
The pair, who will share the #14 with Marc Lieb, established an average lap time of 1:48.3.
Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davison will start from second in the Toyota TS040 Hybrid.
Buemi and Davison set the same aggregate time but by virtue of Jani’s fastest lap, which was a storming 1:47.036s and almost a second quicker than the #8 Toyota, Porsche were deemed pole winners.
“I am super happy. Especially when considering the circumstances which led to this lap time,” Jani said.
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“We’ve had a difficult Friday and then yellow flags in the third session this morning – before qualifying I didn’t do a single clear lap on new tyres. But, nevertheless, the team managed to improve the car every session. Tomorrow’s race is gonna be a different story, but for today we can be really happy.”
Mark Webber, quickest in Practice 3, and Brendon Hartley undertook the qualifying duties in the #20 919 and will start from third.
“Today’s qualifying was a super tight competition for all of us and I really enjoyed it,” Webber said.
“My first lap was good, but the second one not quite as good. But overall we did our best here. In the long race tomorrow the tyres will play a crucial role, as on long distances we’re not that strong compared to the others.
“Whatever the result will be, I am looking forward to the race.”
The grid sets up an enthralling encounter with Porsche returning serve to Toyota who topped qualifying at the previous round.
The second Toyota of Kazuki Nakajima and Alexander Wurz finished the session fourth fastest ahead of the #1 and #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattros.
Rebellion’s pair of LMp1-Ls will start from seventh and eighth with the Nissan-powered Ligier the best of the LMP2s in ninth.
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