Peugeot take shock WEC pole in Spa, Ferrari and Toyota struggle
- Aaron Carroll
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Malthe Jakobsen has given the Peugeot their first ever World Endurance Championship (WEC) pole position in the No.94 9X8 in a qualifying session that saw only one Ferrari in the top 10, and both Toyota's out before Hyperpole.
As it happened
Qualifying
The Hypercar drivers also had 15 minutes to try and get into the top 10, but this time there were no driver restrictions.
Straight out of the pits, Malthe Jakobsen in the No.94 Peugeot had a spin at the top of Eau Rouge. Cold tyres caught the young Dane out and he spun on traction. He managed to avoid the wall, but flat spotted all four of his tyres. He came into the pits for a fresh set.
Robert Kubica was the first to really go for it in the No.83 Ferrari, a 2:01.7 was the benchmark, but Antonio Fuoco in the No.50 Ferrari went 0.06 of a second quicker. The No.009 split the duo, with the No.007 slotting in just behind. The two Aston Martin's looking quick, as Fuoco found another half a second.
The No.20 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde had a big moment up Eau Rouge, catching the car coming over the compression, but having to cut the corner to avoid a crash.
Meanwhile, Charles Milesi went quickest in the No.35 Alpine, with Gounon making it a 1-2 for the French Marque.
Kubica and Antonio Giovinazzi had both since been shuffled back to 13th and 14th, alongside Marco Sorenson in the No.009. Kubica pulled the No.83 into the pits, 13th being the best they would qualify.
The tyres were all gone too, so that was it for the session. So the drop zone included both Toyota's, the No.83 and No.50 Ferraris, both Genesis cars and the No.20 BMW. Sorenson in the No.009 made a last second improve it to make it two Aston Martins in Hyperpole.
The session was topped by the No.35 Alpine, ahead of the No.94 Peugeot, the No.36, No.50 and No.93.
Results - Hypercar Qualifying drop zone
11th No.20 BMW - S. van der Linde
12th No.7 Toyota - Kobayashi
13th No.83 Ferrari - Kubica
14th No.19 Genesis - Jaminet
15th No.51 Ferrari - Giovinazzi
16th No.8 Toyota - Hartley
17th No.17 Genesis - Derani
Hyperpole
After the shocks of Qualifying, the top 10 drivers all had to reset and get back into their mindset for the 12 minute Hyperpole session.
It was the same story as before with tyre warm-up, the drivers being particularly careful in this more important session.
Fuoco came in with a 2:03.4 as the first half-representative time of the session with five minutes left. The first proper lap came from Milesi in the No.35, a 2:00.7. He set the benchmark for the rest of the field to chase.
And chase they did, Gounon came in a tenth and a half slower in the sister No.36, but Jakobsen in the No.94 Peugeot put it to the top by 0.078 of a second. Will Stevens in the No.12 Cadillac went into second, just 0.004 quicker than Milesi, who was then demoted to third.
Gounon stayed fourth on his next lap, but improved to under two tenths off Jakobsen. Jack Aitken in the No.38 went into fifth, ahead of the No.009 and No.007.
Stevens improved marginally, just 0.043 away from provisional pole position with 30 seconds to go. There were no improvements coming from many places, but then came Stevens with a purple sector 1 on his final lap.
But his middle sector came in, and he was quite significantly slower than the top time. He gave it his best, but couldn't quite do it.
Results - Hypercar Hyperpole top 10
1st No.94 Peugeot - Jakobsen
2nd No.12 Cadillac - Stevens
3rd No.35 Alpine - Milesi
4th No.36 Alpine - Gounon
5th No.38 Cadillac - Aitken
6th No.009 Aston Martin - Sorenson
7th No.009 Aston Martin - Tincknell
8th No.50 Ferrari - Fuoco
9th No.93 Peugeot - Vandoorne
10th No.15 BMW - Vanthoor
