Toyota Racing will start tomorrow's FIA World Endurance Championship season-opening Six Hours of Silverstone from the pole after sweeping the front row in a chaotic new qualifying procedure Saturday.
A timing and scoring glitch in the new format, which calls for the average of four laps from two different drivers per car, caused confusion during each 20-minute LMP/GTE session, as not all of the times were being properly recorded on the screens.
While the No. 7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid of Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre had topped the scoring charts following their four-lap average of 1:48.021, confirmation of the their pole did not come until more than one hour following the session.
It ended up being a Toyota sweep of the front row, with Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi teaming for an average of 1:49.995 in the damp session. The duo will be joined by Stephane Sarrazin on Sunday.
The key for Toyota was tire choice, as both gasoline-powered LMP1s initially went out on intermediates, with the No. 7 machine switching to slicks for Wurz's stint.
"We decided to start on intermediate tires, which was a bit risky because in the beginning, there was a lot of rain," Lapierre told SPEED.com. "But it was a good choice. We were a bit conservative because the biggest mistake would have been to [crash].
"It was difficult because this new qualification is a bit complicated for everyone. But in the end, we took the right decision and we got it. It was even a 1-2 so we're very pleased with it."
Qualifying third was the No. 2 Audi Sport Team Joest of Loic Duval and Tom Kristensen, which will see Allan McNish round out the driving force in the diesel-powered LMP1 contender.
The considerable 3.262-second difference between the quickest of the Audis and the pole-sitting Toyota came with tire choice. Audi opted for wets for its first qualifying stint, followed by intermediates, whereas Toyota started on intermediates before switching to slicks for its pole-winning No. 7 car.
“The weather in qualifying made things very difficult just like the practice sessions over the past two days," McNish said. “A brief rain shower made the track slippery necessitating tire changes as the conditions in the short qualifying session changed with every lap. Loic and Tom drove brilliantly."
The No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota of Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld, which was quickest overall in final practice, will roll off fourth overall, ahead of the No. 1 Audi of defending champions Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler after Treluyer battled traction control issues during his qualifying stint.
G-Drive Racing by Delta-ADR put its Oreca 03 Nissan on pole in LMP2, thanks to a 1:55.148 average by Antonio Pizzonia and James Walker, both of whom who are making their class debuts this weekend.
A late flyer by Walker helped secure the pole for the British squad, which won here last year. Pizzonia and Walker will team with Tor Graves in the No. 25 machine tomorrow.
"They just said, 'Good job' and I came in. I didn't know where we were," Walker told SPEED.com. "I was very surprised. The average lap worked in our favor. There's pros and cons to it. But I think that definitely helped us with my lack of running in the car."
The No. 24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan, qualified by Olivier Pla and Alex Brundle, held provisional pole for the majority of the session and will line up second in class. David Heinemeier Hansson completes the lineup for the French squad.
G-Drive's sister Oreca-Nissan of John Martin, Mike Conway and Roman Rusinov will start third in class.
Aston Martin Racing had a clean sweep of the GTE ranks, with its fleet of four Vantage V8s taking the top two positions in both GTE-Pro and GTE-Am.
The No. 97 AMR entry of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke took pole in GTE-Pro with a combined average of 2:00.566. Bruno Senna will join the duo on Sunday, after having limited laps thus far due to an engine change during the opening practice.
"The qualifying format is different to what anyone is used to and our directive was to go flat out," said Turner who is celebrating his birthday. "To get a good result for Aston Martin this weekend is fantastic. It’s an important year for us and we want to hit the ground running. Qualifying isn’t that important in endurance racing, but it’s certainly a nice birthday treat.”
Pedro Lamy, Fred Makowiecki and Canadian Paul Dalla Lana, making his WEC debut, will start second thanks to a 2:00.772 average.
Aston Martin's No. 96 Vantage of Jamie Campbell-Walter, Stuart Hall and Roald Goethe claimed pole in GTE-Am, with a four-lap average good enough for third quickest among the GTE contenders. It was even quicker than the two debuting factory Porsche 911 RSRs, which will start third and fourth in GTE-Pro.
An FIA WEC spokesperson confirmed to SPEED.com there was a software glitch in the timing system that prevented it from displaying all of the correct four-lap average times. However, no data was lost during the incident, and the series and its timing and scoring partner, Alkamel Systems, will work to correct the matter before the next qualifying round at Spa.
The Six Hours of Silverstone takes the green Sunday at 12 p.m. local. Watch the race live at:
Live off beginning at 7 a.m. ET.
LE MANS: Toyota Claims Silverstone Pole Amid Qualifying Confusion
Originally Posted by ACO
On Sunday 14th April the endurance season will kick off with the Silverstone 6 Hours. The opening round of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship will give an idea of the relative strengths of the teams with just over two months to go to the blue riband event of the year, the Le Mans 24 Hours on 22-23 June.
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