Cadillac Repeats Sao Paulo Pole With Stevens Heading 1-2

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA will start from pole for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo FIA World Endurance Championship round for the second year in a row with Will Stevens heading a team 1-2 in qualifying.

The American manufacturer cast aside the disappointment of missing out on 24 Hours of Le Mans glory last month by starring in Hyperpole with the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R of Stevens posting a 1:23.041 to pip teammate Jack Aitken in the No. 38 machine by just 0.048 seconds.

Stevens was one of the last cars to improve in the ten-minute Hyperpole session after Aitken had looked on course to take pole.

Third fastest was the No. 36 Alpine A424 of Victor Martins, who managed a 1:23.108 to be just fractionally adrift of top spot.

Dries Vanthoor’s 1:23.135 in the No. 15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 ensured there were four cars within a tenth of a second at the top of the timesheets.

Fifth fastest was the second Alpine, the No. 36 Signatech-run machine of Charles Milesi on a 1:23.168, while the top-six was rounded out by Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 that had topped a practice session for the first time in FP2.

Jaminet posted a 1:23.341 to match Genesis’ best qualifying position to date.

Seventh was the best of the Ferraris, the No. 50 machine of Antonio Fuoco, as the 499P’s struggles around Interlagos continued with the Italian posting a 1:23.387.

Peugeot bounced back from a tough Le Mans with Malthe Jakobsen going eighth fastest in the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 on a 1:23.402.

The top-ten was then rounded out by the pick of the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyries, the No. 007 of Harry Tincknell, and the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari.

However, the results remain provisional with a host of cars under investigation for a mixture of possible impeding and car controller offences.

The only manufacturer that failed to have a presence in Hyperpole was Toyota as the 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning squad’s tough event continued.

The best of the Toyota TR010 Hybrids will line up in 14th thanks to a 1:24.048 from Ryo Hirakawa in the No. 8 machine that was nearly three tenths adrift of the top-ten cut-off, not helped by Hirakawa going straight on at the first corner late in the session.

Meanwhile, the No. 7 Toyota that leads the points standings will line up 16th.

Also eliminated was the second of the Genesis machines as local driver Pipo Derani could only manage 12th, two tenths from the cut-off.

Aston Martin Again On Top In LMGT3 as Pauwels Emulates Barrichello

Kobe Pauwels repeated Eduardo Barrichello’s LMGT3 pole from last year as it was again an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that topped the timesheets.

Pauwels was deputizing for local hero Barrichello this weekend, who is instead competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and grabbed pole on just his second WEC appearance.

The Heart of Racing Team driver clocked a 1:33.350 to finish the Hyperpole session almost exactly two tenths of a second ahead of the No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Lin Hodenius that props up the LMGT3 points table.

Third fastest was Clemens Schmid at the wheel of the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 with a 1:33.764 that was just two thousandths quicker than Parker Thompson in the No. 69 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Ben Tuck ensured there were five different manufacturers in the first five places with a 1:33.773 aboard the No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVO, while the top-six was rounded out by the second of the Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMGs of Rui Andrade — who had set an identical time to Schmid to top FP3 earlier.

Among those failing to progress into LMGT3 Hyperpole were the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R that leads the championship and has the maximum success weight penalty having won last time out at Le Mans. Ben Keating managed 12th place in that opening session.

Neither of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evos made it through either and both Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3s were eliminated as well, with Antares Au having a late spin at Juncao in the No. 10 car.

Attention now switches towards the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo race itself, which is due to get under way at 11:30 a.m. local time on Sunday (10:30 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying