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Estre, Christensen Lead Porsche GTE Qualifying Sweep

Factory Porsche, Team Project 1 entries take GTE poles in Shanghai…

Photo: Porsche

FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-Pro points leaders Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen have scored class pole for Sunday’s 4 Hours of Shanghai.

The defending class champions took their No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR to a best combined average of 1:59.579 in the 20-minute qualifying session at Shanghai International Circuit.

It was just 0.018 seconds faster than Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim’s best two-lap average in the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE, which will start the third round of the championship in second position.

Estre and Christensen scored their first class pole of the season and second straight for the Manthey-run Porsche GT Team.

It was the first pole for Porsche in GTE-Pro in Shanghai.

The No. 97 Aston Martin of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin was third, ahead of the pair of AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs in the hard-fought session, which saw the entire GTE-Pro class grid separated by less than seven-tenths.

Team Project 1’s Cairoli, Perfetti on GTE-Am Pole

Team Project 1 scored its first GTE-Am class pole of the season, courtesy of Matteo Cairoli and Egidio Perfetti’s 2:00.824 average in the No. 56 Porsche.

The duo, who will be joined by David Heinemeier Hansson on Sunday, broke TF Sport’s two-race pole streak.

Cairoli and Perfetti’s combined time was some seven-tenths quicker than the No. 98 Aston Martin, qualified by Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn, which wound up second.

The No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche will start third in class, ahead of the sister Project 1 Porsche of Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

The 4 Hours of Shanghai gets underway Sunday at 12 p.m. local time (Saturday, 11 p.m. ET).

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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