Kobayashi Takes Spa Pole After Giovinazzi Time Deleted

Kamui Kobayashi secured pole position for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after Antonio Giovinazzi lost the top spot due to a lap time deletion and Toyota driver Brendon Hartley crashed on his out lap.

Kobayashi set a best lap of 2:00.812 aboard the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to secure the Japanese manufacturer’s second pole position of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Giovinazzi had initially set the fastest time in the No. 51 Ferrari 499p but his pole lap was deleted due to a track limits infraction at the exit of Les Combes.

The Italian slotted into third in the Hypercar order, behind the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari of Miguel Molina.

Giovinazzi notably spun at La Source earlier in the session, which came in the spell after an early red flag period triggered by Hartley’s accident in the No. 8 Toyota.

Hartley lost control at Raidillon on his out lap and hit the barriers nose first, bringing out the red flag. The New Zealander walked away but took no further part in the session.

Earl Bamber completed the second row of the grid aboard the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, finishing 0.231 seconds behind Kobayashi.

Teammate Sebastien Bourdais completed the top five in the No. 3 Cadillac, ahead of the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre and the privateer Hertz Team JOTA Porsche in the hands of Will Stevens.

Olivier Pla qualified eighth for Glickenhaus, with Peugeot’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Fred Makowiecki completing the top five.

Gustavo Menezes and Tom Dillmann were eleventh and twelfth, respectively.

Blomqvist, Al Harthy Take Class Poles

United Autosports will start Saturday’s six-hour race from the LMP2 pole, thanks to a fast lap from Tom Blomqvist.

The reigning IMSA DPi champion reeled off a 2:05.979 in the No. 23 Oreca 07 Gibson, besting Team WRT’s Louis Deletraz by 0.339 seconds.

Daniil Kvyat qualified third for Prema, ahead of Frijns in the other WRT car and JOTA driver Pietro Fittipaldi.

In GTE-Am, Ahmad Al Harthy took his maiden WEC pole position in dominant fashion.

The Omani driver steered the No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage GTE to a best lap of 2:17.216.

Al Harthy remained ahead of the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Sarah Bovy by a significant margin of 1.934 seconds.

The eventual pole-sitter already sat at the top of the times with an early flyer when the session was red-flagged, triggered by a big incident for PJ Hyett at Raidillon.

Hyett lost control of the No. 56 Project 1 – AO Porsche and hit the barrier hard, but walked away.

When the session resumed, Al Harthy was able to improve on his early best lap twice en route to pole. Ryan Hardwick took third aboard the No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche, ahead of Corvette Racing’s Ben Keating in fourth.

The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps gets underway Saturday at 12:45 p.m. local time (6:45 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Qualifying