The latest auto news, reviews, prices, product and vehicle releases. Apr
19th
Stay connected Subscribe to our RSS feed
From press release
Toyota Racing will start the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship on pole position after an exciting qualifying session for the Six Hours of Silverstone.
Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima qualified the #7 TS040 HYBRID, which they share with Stéphane Sarrazin, at the head of the field by a tiny margin of just 0.005secs.
The #8 car, qualified by Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre as Sébastien Buemi watched from the pits, will start the eight-race season from fifth on the grid, having missed most of final practice due to a super capacitor change.
Like last season, the WEC qualifying format requires two drivers from each car to set a minimum of two flying laps each. The grid is decided by the combined average of each driver's fastest two laps.
Alex and Anthony started the 25-minute session and it immediately became clear that all three LMP1 manufacturers were part of a close battle for pole position.
Two flying laps from each driver put both in contention before Kazuki took the #7 while Nicolas swapped with Anthony in the #8.
With traffic and tyre degradation coming into play, the fight for pole intensified. Kazuki improved consistently and used his final lap to snatch pole by the narrowest margin while Nico, who faced traffic on his stint, took fifth.
The six-hour race will begin at midday tomorrow with Toyota looking to add to the five wins it has already achieved in its one-and-a-half seasons of WEC competition.
Qualifying results* - Six Hours of Silverstone
1 Nakajima/Sarrazin/Wurz (Toyota) 1m 42.774s
2 Di Grassi/Duval/Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 42.779s
3 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 1m 43.087s
4 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 43.137s
5 Buemi/Davidson/Lapierre (Toyota) 1m 43.189s
6 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 1m 43.226s
7 Belicchi/Kraihamer/Leimer (Lola-Toyota) 1m 44.285s
8 Beche/Heidfeld/Prost (Lola-Toyota) 1m 44.392s
9 Canal/Pla/Rusinov (Morgan-Nissan) 1m 49.156s
10 Bradley/Howson/Matsuda (Oreca-Nissan) 1m 49.439s
*Unofficial timing
Toyota Racing will start the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship on pole position after an exciting qualifying session for the Six Hours of Silverstone.
Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima qualified the #7 TS040 HYBRID, which they share with Stéphane Sarrazin, at the head of the field by a tiny margin of just 0.005secs.
 |
| Photo: Toyota |
The #8 car, qualified by Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre as Sébastien Buemi watched from the pits, will start the eight-race season from fifth on the grid, having missed most of final practice due to a super capacitor change.
Like last season, the WEC qualifying format requires two drivers from each car to set a minimum of two flying laps each. The grid is decided by the combined average of each driver's fastest two laps.
 |
| Photo: Toyota |
Alex and Anthony started the 25-minute session and it immediately became clear that all three LMP1 manufacturers were part of a close battle for pole position.
Two flying laps from each driver put both in contention before Kazuki took the #7 while Nicolas swapped with Anthony in the #8.
 |
| Photo: Audi |
With traffic and tyre degradation coming into play, the fight for pole intensified. Kazuki improved consistently and used his final lap to snatch pole by the narrowest margin while Nico, who faced traffic on his stint, took fifth.
The six-hour race will begin at midday tomorrow with Toyota looking to add to the five wins it has already achieved in its one-and-a-half seasons of WEC competition.
 |
| Photo: WEC |
Qualifying results* - Six Hours of Silverstone
1 Nakajima/Sarrazin/Wurz (Toyota) 1m 42.774s
2 Di Grassi/Duval/Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 42.779s
3 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 1m 43.087s
4 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 43.137s
5 Buemi/Davidson/Lapierre (Toyota) 1m 43.189s
6 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 1m 43.226s
7 Belicchi/Kraihamer/Leimer (Lola-Toyota) 1m 44.285s
8 Beche/Heidfeld/Prost (Lola-Toyota) 1m 44.392s
9 Canal/Pla/Rusinov (Morgan-Nissan) 1m 49.156s
10 Bradley/Howson/Matsuda (Oreca-Nissan) 1m 49.439s
*Unofficial timing