The no7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid will start the 6 Hours of Shanghai in pole position, the fourth time the Japanese manufacturer has claimed the top spot in China.
Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway set an average lap time of 1m42.931s to claim second their pole position of the season and finish 0.2 seconds ahead of the no8 Toyota Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima to make it another Toyota 1-2.
Rebellion Racing will start third as the no1 R13-Gibson of Andre Lotterer and Bruno Senna set an average lap of 1m43.218s, just 0.287s behind the no7 Toyota and just 0.059s from securing a front row position for tomorrow’s race, which is round 5 of the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship.
The no17 SMP Racing BR1-AER will complete row 2 of the grid after Stephane Sarrazin and Egor Orudzhev finished the 20 minute session just under a second behind the lead Toyota.
Chinese fans will have something to celebrate as the home heroes Jackie Chan DC Racing claimed the LMP2 pole position. Ho-Pin Tung and Gabriel Aubry claimed their first pole of the season in no38 Oreca-Gibson with an average time of 1m48.888.
The LMP2 front row will also feature the second Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca as Jazeman Jaafar and Nabil Jeffri finished 0.250s behind their teammates.
The no31 Dragonspeed Oreca-Gibson was third after Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez posted an average lap of 1m49.857, with the no36 Signatech Alpine Matmut A470 completing row 2 on the class grid.
Ford and Aston Martin Secure GTE Poles in China
Stefan Mucke put in a fast lap right at the end of the qualifying session to secure the third pole position from five attempts for Ford and the second of the season for the no66 Ford GT. Mucke and Pla set an average lap of 1m58.627 around the 5.4km Shanghai International Circuit. The Ford was 0.247s ahead of the no81 BMW M8 of Martin Tomczyk and Nicky Catsburg and three tenth ahead of the no97 Aston Martin Vantage of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin.
The leading Porsche was the no92 911 RSR of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen in fourth spot and four tenths behind the pole car. The no51 AF Corse Ferrari of reigning world champions James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi could only manage the ninth fastest time, 0.8 seconds behind the top car and nearly two tenths ahead of their teammates. The no64 Chevrolet Corvette of Tommy Milner and Olly Gavin was down in 11th with a 2m00.228 average lap.
Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana secured their fourth consecutive 6 Hours of Shanghai LMGTE Am pole position together in the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage and it was Lamy’s fifth pole in a row. The Portuguese driver posting his fastest lap of the session at the chequered flag to move the no98 Aston Martin to the top of the timesheets with an average 2m01.884 lap, just 0.067s ahead of the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Christian Ried and Matt Campbell.
