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FIA WEC

Porsche Sweeps Front Row for 6H Sao Paulo

Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard lead all-Porsche front row in Brazil…

Photo: Porsche

Photo: Porsche

Porsche secured its first front row sweep in the FIA WEC, with the German manufacturer scoring its third consecutive overall pole and fourth of the season Saturday at Interlagos.

Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard took the No. 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid to a best four-lap average of 1:17.676 in the heated 25-minute session, which saw Webber get back in the car to improve on his times.

Their average edged out the sister 919 Hybrid, qualified by Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, by 0.107 seconds, and gave the No. 20 Porsche its first pole of the year.

Webber and Bernhard will be joined by Brendon Hartley in Sunday’s season-ending Six Hours of Sao Paulo as they search for Porsche’s first victory with its new LMP1 contender.

Newly crowned World Champions Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi will start third overall and in class, thanks to a 1:18.070 average in their No. 8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid.

The No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer qualified fourth, with the No. 7 Toyota of Alex Wurz and Stephane Sarrazin completing the top-five overall and in the LMP1-H class.

Tom Kristensen, who makes his final start this weekend, qualified the No. 1 Audi alongside Lucas di Grassi in sixth.

LMP1-L class pole honors went again to the No. 12 Rebellion R-One Toyota of Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche, with a 1:21.127 average, a time that was more than three seconds off the pace.

G-Drive Racing, meanwhile, scored its seventh pole in eight races this year, with Olivier Pla and Roman Rusinov continuing their dominance in the cost-capped prototype ranks.

Pla and Rusinov combined for a 1:24.463 average in their No. 26 Ligier JS P2 Nissan they’ll share with Julien Canal on Sunday.

The OAK-run entry edged out the No. 47 KCMG Oreca 03R Nissan of Richard Bradley and Alexandre Imperatori, with the No. 37 SMP Racing entry third in class.

The FIA WEC Six Hours of Sao Paulo takes the green Sunday at 1 p.m. local (10 a.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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