Alex Wurz put the #7 Toyota TS-030 Hybrid on the pole for the final World Endurance Championship race of 2012, the Six Hours of Shanghai. This is Toyota’s third pole in its six outings.
Wurz’s lap of 1:48.273 was one-tenth faster than Audi’s best effort, a lap of 1:48.373 set by Allan McNish in the #2 R18 e-tron quattro.Wurz said later he could have gone faster.
“We know we have to put in a good performance to beat the Audis in qualifying and the TS030 Hybrid was better today than the driver to be honest,” Wurz said in a team press release. “In Brazil I got the perfect pole lap but here I didn’t have the best last sector and lost a few tenths. I didn’t calculate enough for the change in wind direction so lost some time there.
“Nevertheless it was good enough to fight the Audis for pole position so I am very happy. From the long runs yesterday we looked competitive but the traffic fell pretty well for me. For sure it is going to be close; I expect nothing different than another hard fight like we had in Fuji.”
Next: Audi Very Close
Toyota had a significant speed advantage after the second practice session, but Audi obviously found the right set-up for qualifying.
““It was a good qualifying session and it’s nice to be on the front row,” Allan McNish said in an Audi press statement. “The gap to Toyota is small.
“The car had good balance and I was able to make perfect use of the tires. I’m pleased with our performance. I’m happy for Audi Sport Team Joest plus the fact that we’re in contention for the title through to the end. But I’m also aware of the fact that the race won’t be easy.”
André Lotterer in the #1 Audi e-tron was .324 slower than Wurz. Lotterer also made an error on his qualifying lap which cost him a few tenths. “Qualifying was okay—we managed to clearly improve the car compared with yesterday,” Lotterer explained. “The gap to Toyota isn’t very large, so I’m confident for the race.
“I’m not completely happy with my own performance because I made a small mistake in Turn 14 and the front right wheel locked. That cost me some time when the tires were working at their best.”
With Toyota and Audi so closely matched in speed, the edge might go to the more fuel-efficient e-trons. Through the past several races the Audis have managed to complete the race on one fewer fuel stop than Toyota.
Tire wear could also be an issue, and here Toyota might have an edge. “It will be an extremely interesting race because tire degradation is a bit more of a factor than usual on this track and there is the potential for different strategies,” said Toyota technical director Pascal Vasselon.
“There was potential for the gap to be a little bigger but Alex did two really strong sectors and this was enough. To achieve our third pole position in just our sixth event is very satisfying and of course our target for the race tomorrow is to convert this into our third win.
“We can expect another tough fight with Audi so we have to aim for another perfect race like in Fuji to finish the season on a high note.”
JRM Racing took the P1 Privateer pole, beating Rebellion by .016 seconds and Strakka by another .018 seconds, promising a very close battle among these cars.
Karun Chandhok, who took the pole in the JRM HPD ARX 03a-Honda, told fiawec.com, “I’m absolutely thrilled with today’s result. It’s the first time we’ve finished as the fastest privateer car and it’s a great feeling as we have promised it for so long. We know tomorrow won’t be easy, as we are all very close here, but we can be very happy with what we achieved today.
“Tomorrow’s race will be tough as the Strakka and Rebellion guys are very strong. The team is working hard and doing an excellent job, and results like today’s gives a confidence boost for tomorrow.”
Neel Janni in the second-placed Rebellion Lola-Toyota said he made a judgment error in traffic which cost him the pole.
“I’m a bit disappointed not to have achieved the pole position. I had very good pace on my first lap, around seven tenths ahead, but I made an error of judgment,” he said in a team press release.
“As there was traffic in front of me, I decided to slow down in order to have a clear second lap and secure a fast lap, but this was not the case for the next laps. I had a good time in my last lap, but it was not the fastest one. That’s life!”
The P2 pole went to James Rossiter in the #32 Lotus Lola-Lotus.
“I am unbelievable happy to be on pole position!” he told fiawec.com. “We have worked very hard for this and it is great that the hard work has paid off.
“At my first race in Spa, I missed pole position by just four hundredths of a second. This time, we managed to be in front of our competitors, which is an amazing feeling. I am quite confident for tomorrow because the car is running well. We will now focus on the race and we hope to have a good result.”
The #97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner took the GTE-Pro pole, and the #88 Felbermayr Porsche of Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda, and Paolo Ruberti topped the GTE-Am class.
The WEC Six Hours of Shanghai takes the green flag at 11 p.m. EDT on Oct. 27. Streaming video and live timing and scoring are available at the WEC website.
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| Qualifying WEC Six Hours of Shanghai | |||||||
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| # | class | car | gap | diff. | time | speed |
| 1 | 7 | P1 | Toyota TS030-Hybrid | - | - | 1:48.273 | 181.2 |
| 2 | 2 | P1 | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | 0.100 | 0.100 | 1:48.373 | 181.1 |
| 3 | 1 | P1 | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | 0.324 | 0.224 | 1:48.597 | 180.7 |
| 4 | 22 | P1 | HPD ARX 03a-Honda | 2.730 | 2.406 | 1:51.003 | 176.8 |
| 5 | 12 | P1 | Lola B12/60 Coupé-Toyota | 2.746 | 0.016 | 1:51.019 | 176.8 |
| 6 | 21 | P1 | HPD ARX 03a-Honda | 2.764 | 0.018 | 1:51.037 | 176.7 |
| 7 | 13 | P1 | Lola B12/60 Coupé-Toyota | 3.121 | 0.357 | 1:51.394 | 176.2 |
| 8 | 15 | P1 | Oak Pescarolo-Honda | 3.899 | 0.778 | 1:52.172 | 174.9 |
| 9 | 32 | P2 | Lola B12/80 Coupé-Lotus | 5.859 | 1.960 | 1:54.132 | 171.9 |
| 10 | 25 | P2 | Oreca 03-Nissan | 6.028 | 0.169 | 1:54.301 | 171.7 |
| 11 | 44 | P2 | HPD ARX 03b-Honda | 6.077 | 0.049 | 1:54.350 | 171.6 |
| 12 | 24 | P2 | Morgan-Nissan | 6.202 | 0.125 | 1:54.475 | 171.4 |
| 13 | 49 | P2 | Oreca 03-Nissan | 6.878 | 0.676 | 1:55.151 | 170.4 |
| 14 | 31 | P2 | Lola B12/80 Coupé-Lotus | 6.922 | 0.044 | 1:55.195 | 170.4 |
| 15 | 23 | P2 | Oreca 03-Nissan | 7.414 | 0.492 | 1:55.687 | 169.6 |
| 16 | 41 | P2 | Zytek Z11SN-Nissan | 8.258 | 0.844 | 1:56.531 | 168.4 |
| 17 | 26 | P2 | Oreca 03-Nissan | 8.409 | 0.151 | 1:56.682 | 168.2 |
| 18 | 29 | P2 | Lola B12/80 Coupé-Nissan | 9.097 | 0.688 | 1:57.370 | 167.2 |
| 19 | 97 | GTE Pro | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | 15.448 | 6.351 | 2:03.721 | 158.6 |
| 20 | 77 | GTE Pro | Porsche 911 RSR (997) | 16.198 | 0.750 | 2:04.471 | 157.7 |
| 21 | 51 | GTE Pro | Ferrari F458 Italia | 17.114 | 0.916 | 2:05.387 | 156.5 |
| 22 | 88 | GTE Am | Porsche 911 RSR (997) | 17.311 | 0.197 | 2:05.584 | 156.3 |
| 23 | 61 | GTE Am | Ferrari F458 Italia | 17.563 | 0.252 | 2:05.836 | 155.9 |
| 24 | 71 | GTE Pro | Ferrari F458 Italia | 18.094 | 0.531 | 2:06.367 | 155.3 |
| 25 | 50 | GTE Am | Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1 | 18.637 | 0.543 | 2:06.910 | 154.6 |
| 26 | 55 | GTE Am | Porsche 911 RSR (997) | 20.575 | 1.938 | 2:08.848 | 152.3 |
| 27 | 70 | GTE Am | Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1 | 20.882 | 0.307 | 2:09.155 | 151.9 |
| 28 | 57 | GTE Am | Ferrari F458 Italia | 21.368 | 0.486 | 2:09.641 | 151.4 |
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