Fuoco Bags Second Straight Pole for Ferrari

Ferrari driver Antonio Fuoco scored back-to-back pole positions as he topped qualifying for this weekend’s Spa round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Following his pole at Imola last month, Fuoco was once again in a league of his own at the wheel of the works No. 50 Ferrari 499P, setting a best lap of 2:02.600 in the 12-minute Hyperpole session.

That was enough to secure pole for the car he shares with Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina by 0.507 seconds ahead of Matt Campbell in the best of the Porsche Penske Motorsport cars, the No. 5.

Fuoco had gone even faster in the first part of qualifying, which he also topped with a time of 2:02.462.

Third on the grid went to Cadillac Racing’s solo V-Series.R courtesy of a 2:03.115 from Lynn, just 0.008 seconds slower than Campbell, while Julien Andlauer bagged a spot on the second row of the grid for the No. 99 Proton Porsche 963 in fourth.

Kevin Estre could only manage sixth in the championship-leading No. 6 Porsche, a place behind Callum Ilott’s No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA entry.

Toyota only managed to get one of its two GR010 Hybrids through to Hyperpole, the No. 8 car, which qualified seventh in the hands of Brendon Hartley.

Rounding out the order in Hyperpole were the No. 35 Alpine A424 of Charles Milesi, who stopped on track along the Kemmel Straight at the end of the session, the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica and Robin Frijns in the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8.

The No. 51 Ferrari was the most notable car to fail to make the Hyperpole cut as James Calado missed out on a spot in the top 10 by just 0.021 seconds, leaving he and teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi starting 11th.

Peugeot again failed to get either of its 9X8s in the top 10 as Mikkel Jensen and Loic Duval took 14th and 16th on the grid respectively, split by Kamui Kobayashi’s No. 7 Toyota.

Kobayashi’s best lap was 1.276 seconds off the pace, his chances of making the top 10 not helped by a lurid slide exiting the second part of Fagnes.

Pole for Iron Dames as Malykhin Suffers Big Crash

Sarah Bovy scored pole in the LMGT3 class aboard the No. 85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The LMGT3 Hyperpole session was interrupted by a major crash involving the No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alex Malykhin at the top of Eau Rouge.

Malykhin lost control of the No. 92 machine long before he reached the crest of Radillion, hitting the barriers rear-first and leaving the Porsche with significant damage.

The UK-based Belarusian escaped serious injury, but was taken to the medical centre for checks, complaining of pain in his foot.

The session resumed after a delay of just over 20 minutes, after which Bovy set the benchmark time of 2:20.755, putting her 0.337 seconds up on the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Josh Caygill.

Ahmad Al Harthy took third in the No. 46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 ahead of Manthey’s surviving Porsche, the No. 91 car of Yasser Shahin and the No. 59 United McLaren of James Cottingham.

The Imola-winning No. 31 WRT BMW didn’t make Hyperpole, with Darren Leung only managing 13th on the grid.

The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is due to begin on Saturday at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying