Early LMP1/LMP2 qualifying for tomorrow’s FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas was marked by contact between the Toyota Racing TS030 – Hybrid and the LMP2 Lotus T128. The Toyota left the track on its own with Sebastian Buemi behind the wheel with just over 9 min in the session. The No. 45 Oak Racing Morgan Nissan made contact with the wall in Turn 9.
The No. 2 Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro, qualified by Allan McNish and Loic Duval, took the pole with a 4-lap average time between the two driver of 1:48.355 min. The No. 1 team car was second at 1:48.617. Toyota took third on the grid with an average time of 1:49.696. The Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Coupe, the only P1 privateer, posted an average time of 1:52.081, driven by Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche.
LMP2 pole was taken by Mike Conway and John Martin (G-Drive Racing Oreca 03 – Nissan) with a time of 1:54.951. The No. 24 OAK Racing Morgan – Nissan took second at 1:55.961.
Bruno Senna and Frederic Makowiecki drove the Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 to the GT pole. Their 4-lap average time of 2:04.628 topped Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet (Porsche AG Team Manthey 911 RSR) by 0.270 sec. Senna’s teammates Richie Stanaway and Pedro Lamy qualified P3 with an average time of 2:04.918. Tony Vilander and Kamui Kobayashi put the Team Corse Ferrari F458 Italia fourth on the starting grid at 2:05.073.
When asked in the post-qualifying press conference if the No. 2 Audi thus far had an advantage over its sister car, McNish allowed that this might be the case but cautioned that very few laps had so far been run by either machine at Circuit of the Americas. Lotterer posted the fastest time in Practice #3 in the No. 1 Audi.