Porsche Sweeps Front Row for 6H COTA

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Porsche has taken pole for Saturday’s Six Hours of Circuit of The Americas, with a late flyer by Nick Tandy ensuring a front row sweep for the German manufacturer in the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Tandy reeled off a 1:44.827 in the closing moments of the 20-minute session, after his first lap was disallowed due to exceeding track limits. It came after switching to Jani’s tires for the timed run.

The Englishman and reigning World Champion Neel Jani combined for a 1:44.741 in the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid they’ll share with Andre Lotterer tomorrow.

It marked the second consecutive 1-2 qualifying sweep for Porsche and second pole of the season for the car.

Jani and Tandy’s combined time was 0.253 seconds quicker than the No. 2 Porsche, qualified by Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard, with Toyota Gazoo Racing a distant third and fourth, with the No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid more than 1.6 seconds adrift.

Despite topping the time charts in Free Practice 3, the Japanese manufacturer struggled for two-lap pace in the hot afternoon conditions.

Signatech Alpine Matmut scored its second straight pole in LMP2, thanks to a 1:54.024 average by Nico Lapierre and Andre Negrao in the No. 36 Alpine A470 Gibson.

The pairing edged out the No. 13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07 Gibson by 0.251 seconds, with the class championship-leading No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca set to roll off from third on the grid.

The Six Hours of Circuit of The Americas is set for 12 p.m. CT on Saturday.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

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