WEC: Campbell takes pole for Qatar’s season-opener

Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche Penske 963 Hybrid took the manufacturer’s first-ever Hypercar era FIA World Endurance Championship pole position with a stunning 1:39.347 lap set in the final moments of the Hyperpole session for the season-opening round held at Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit

The #2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V.Series R driven by Alex Lynn. Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche Penske 963 Hybrid Hypercar takes first ever Porsche WEC pole position with a stunning 1:39.347s lap in dying seconds of Hyperpole session

Campbell’s time eclipses the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing entry driven by Nyck de Vries by 0.164s. Third on the grid will be the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 as Callum IIlott made an excellent WEC debut. Fourth was the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Antonio Fuoco, while the Kévin Estre-driven #6 Porsche Penske 963 Hybrid Hypercar will start fifth.

CORVETTE CLINCHES LMGT3 POLE
TF Sport run #81 Corvette driven by Tom van Rompuy took first ever LMGT3 pole position by setting a pole lap of 1:54.372.

Porsche went second-fastest as Aliaksandr Malykhin in #92 Manthey PureRxing machine set time in Hyperpole that was 0.8s adrift of the pole.

#54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 was third as Thomas Flohr qualified with his best lap that being just 0.003s off the second-placed Porsche.

Fourth is the #777 D’Station Aston Martin as Clement Mateu qualified Japanese entered Vantage on his WEC debut.

Aston Martin was fifth as well with Ian James, who was quickest in the initial qualifying session, ending fifth on a 1m55.320s lap in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.

The season-opening Qatar 1812km race is scheduled to begin at 11:00 local time on Saturday morning.