The #36 Alpine ELF Matmut A480 claimed the pole position for round two of the 2021 World Endurance Championship at the 8 Hours of Portimao.
Matthieu Vaxiviere topped the time sheets to secure the first overall WEC pole position for Alpine
Porsche takes the top spot in the LMGTE Pro class as they continue a close fight with historic rivals Ferrari, as Kevin Estre takes second consecutive pole.
HYPERCAR
Alpine ELF Matmut took the top spot in Portugal, with Matthieu Vaxiviere setting a best lap of 1m30.364 in the A480-Gibson. Brendon Hartley, in the #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid, was a close second with a 1m30.458s, 0.094s behind.
The #7 Toyota was third with Mike Conway achieving a fastest lap of 1m30.540s, meaning the top three are covered by just 0.176s. Glickenhaus Racing’s Richard Westbrook qualifies fourth in debut for US entered teams new Glickenhaus 0007 Hypercar.
LMGTE PRO
Kevin Estre set the fastest lap to claim second consecutive pole position with a 1m37.986 lap in #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19. Estre set two lap times that would have been good enough for pole as #92 team continues 100% points success in 2021 so far.
James Calado took second place on grid with 1m38.359s lap in #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. But the Brit saw the next quick lap cancelled for track limit violation. The #91 Porsche driven by Gimmi Bruni will start third in tomorrow’s race.
The #52 Ferrari has disastrous session and will start at rear of grid after Daniel Serra was penalised for track limit infringements and only set one flying lap.
LMP2
British team JOTA took 1-2 in LMP2 as Tom Blomqvist set the best lap of the session of 1m31.210s in #28 Oreca-Gibson. His best lap beat local ace and teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa in #38 JOTA entry by just 0.045s, with Da Costa stopping the clock on 1m31.255.
Racing Team Nederland team continue their strong form with the third placed time in LMP2 as Job Van Uitert also claims the LMP2 Pro/Am class best.
LMGTE AM
LMGTE Am class pole was secured by Egidio Perfetti in #56 Team Project 1 Porsche after he left it late in the session to set a 1m40.191 pace setting best.
The #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche was second as Christian Reid sets best lap of 1m40.236s but is just beaten after Perfetti’s lap which was just 0.045s quicker.
Roberto Lacorte’s 1m40.885 for Cetilar Racing was good enough for third position as they look to fight for another podium after their success in Round 1 at Spa.
The 8 Hours of Portimao is due to begin at 11h00 BST / 12h00 CEST on Sunday 13 June.
