Toyota Locks Out Front Row in Portimao Qualifying

Brendon Hartley led a front row lockout for Toyota Gazoo Racing in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Portimao.

The New Zealander set a best time of 1:30.171 aboard the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to lead teammate Kamui Kobayashi by 0.273 seconds.

The pair of Ferrari 499Ps occupied the second row, with the No. 50 car of Nicklas Nielsen securing third place with a 1:31.596 lap.

James Calado was fourth, ahead of the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre and Nico Mueller aboard the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8.

Frederic Makowiecki was seventh with Cadillac Racing’s Richard Westbrook and Peugeot driver Paul di Resta eight and ninth, respectively.

Romain Dumas completed the overall top ten for Glickenhaus, with Tom Dillmann 11th in the No. 4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson.

Bortolotti, Keating Secure LMP2, GTE-Am Poles

Mirko Bortolotti bounced back from early issues and a lap time deletion to claim LMP2 pole position.

The Italian charged to a best lap of 1:34.303 to put the No. 63 Prema Oreca 07 Gibson atop the timesheets in class, a mere 0.001 seconds clear of Vector Sport’s Gabriel Aubry.

Bortolotti joined the session late after encountering car problems that called for Prema mechanics to push the car back to its pit area moments before the session was due to start.

Once the car rejoined qualifying, Bortolotti then also saw his first provisional pole lap deleted for an infraction of track limits, but managed to secure with his next time.

United Autosports’ Phil Hanson took third ahead of the No. 48 Hertz Team JOTA Oreca of Yifei Ye.

Albert Costa completed the top five for Inter Europol Competition.

Ben Keating beat Sarah Bovy and Diego Alessi to pole position in GTE-Am.

A late flyer from the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R saw Keating reel off a best lap of 1:41.362 to claim his first pole of the season.

The No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the hands of Sarah Bovy qualified second, 0.217 seconds down.

Diego Alessi, making his first WEC appearance at Portimao, briefly held provisional pole aboard the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo before dropping to third.

Thomas Flohr came in fourth ahead of ORT by TF’s Ahmad al Harthy and Richard Mille AF Corse driver Luis Perez Companc.

The 6 Hours of Portimao starts Sunday at 12 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Qualifying