Toyota Gazoo Racing has locked out the front row for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at Interlagos.
Kamui Kobayashi set the benchmark in Hyperpole qualifying with a 1m 23.240s flyer to top teammate Sebastien Buemi, who shares the #8 entry with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, by 0.122s.
“I really enjoyed it,” said Buemi. “It was my first qualifying for a long time, so it was nice to have the chance and I am very pleased with the result.
“It’s a great performance from the team and a one-two in qualifying for the first time since last year. It is just qualifying, and there’s a long race to go, but it gives us a good starting position.
“Hopefully, we can help car #7 win the race and get some good manufacturers’ World Championship points as well.”
Australia’s Matt Campbell qualified the Porsche Penske #5 932 in third, just 0.069s behind Buemi.
Two teams featuring Kiwis will start on the first two rows, with Chip Ganassi’s Cadillac Racing entry set to start fourth. Alex Lynn qualified with a best time of 1m23.396s to fall just 0.065s short of Campbell.
The Porsche Penske #6 qualified fifth, a further 0.012s behind, to make for a top-five split by less than three-tenths of a second.
The first Ferrari, the Le Mans-winning #50, starts sixth, ahead of the two Team Jota Porsches, which lock out the fourth row.
The #51 Ferrari starts ninth, alongside BMW M Team WRT.
Alpine and Peugeot both failed to progress from the earlier timed session and start outside the top ten.
The 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at 2.00 am NZST and can be watched live on the WEC app with a paid subscription.
Header Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing
