Kubica Fronts Ferrari 1-2 in COTA Qualifying

Robert Kubica captured pole position for Ferrari and AF Corse for Lone Star Le Mans, leading a 1-2 for Prancing Horse ahead of the six-hour FIA World Endurance Championship race at Circuit of The Americas.

The No. 83 Ferrari 499P set a time of 1:57.655 in the Hyperpole shootout, which was enough to beat the No. 51 car of Antonio Giovinazzi by 0.096 seconds.

Jean-Eric Vergne captured third aboard the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 ahead of the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre and Nicklas Nielsen’s No. 50 Ferrari in fifth.

Nicolas Varrone took sixth behind the wheel of the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche after the Argentinean went quickest during the damp first segment of qualifying.

Charles Milesi, piloting the sole Alpine A424 in Hyperpole, was eighth ahead of the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid in the hands of Ryo Hirakawa.

BMW’s Dries Vanthoor qualified ninth, spinning off the circuit at Turn 6 during his final flying lap attempt, notably setting a purple middle sector during an aborted preceding lap.

Alex Riberas complete the overall top ten at the wheel of the No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie.

The opening qualifying session for Hypercar was characterized by changeable conditions and rapidly tumbling lap times.

Notably, the No. 12 and No. 38 Cadillac V-Series.Rs and the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid gambled on wets and were subsequently eliminated.

The No. 5 Porsche, No. 94 Peugeot, No. 36 Alpine, No. 20 BMW and No. 007 Aston Martin also all failed to advance.

Levorato Leads Ford 1-2 to Put Proton Mustang on LMGT3 Pole

Giammarco Levorato put the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 on pole position, leading 1-2 for the Blue Oval on home soil.

Levorato reeled off a 2:07.645 in the dying moments of the LMGT3 Hyperpole session to beat his stablemate Ben Tuck by 0.018 seconds.

Notably, the No. 88 car was not in Hyperpole initially after Stefano Gattuso qualified 11th in first qualifying.

However, the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3 was pulled from Hyperpole for taking the checkered flag twice, allowing the Proton entry to go through.

Sean Gelael took third in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, ahead of Valentino Rossi’s No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

The top five in class was rounded out by the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Jonny Edgar, while the second United McLaren slotted into sixth with Sebastien Baud at the wheel.

The sole remaining Lexus in Hyperpole took seventh courtesy of Finn Gehrsitz, with the No. 60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, the No. 31 Team WRT BMW and No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo the last cars to make up the top ten.

Notably, the two cars atop the LMGT3 points standings failed to make the cut for Hyperpole as both the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 were eliminated.

AF Corse saw both of its cars knocked out as Thomas Flohr’s No. 54 machine also failed to go through, with the No. 81 TF Sport Corvette, No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, No. 10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin and No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche also dropped.

The six-hour race at COTA is set to kick off Sunday at 1 p.m. CST.

RESULTS: Qualifying