Toyota grabs pole by 0.017s at Monza

Text & Images: Rick Kiewiet

Toyota secured pole position for tomorrow's 6 hour race at the Temple of Speed in Monza. In Ferrari's home race, Kamui Kobayashi produced a lap 0.017s faster than Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari. Robert Kubica scored his first pole in WEC in the LMP2 category, while Sarah Bovy in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche claimed p1 in GTAm.

Behind Kobayashi and Fuoco, Brandon Hartley was only 0.102s from the Pole. Also a strong performance from Peugeot: as they race at a track where they have experience for the first time (last year the 9X8 had it's debut in Monza) they immediately qualify in p4 with the #93 (Vergne). #2 Cadillac will start the race from p5, making it 4 different manufacturers within the top-5. Right behind was the #51 Ferrari and the #94 Peugeot. Three Porsche's come next: the Penske #5, followed by the JOTA #38 and the #6 Penske. The sole Glickenhaus managed to outqualify both the brand new #99 Proton Porsche and the #4 Vanwall.

Robert Kubica stood out in LMP2 qualifying, as the gap towards the #28 JOTA was 0.353s. Third was the #22 United Autosports car, just ahead of the #10 Vector Sport and the Le Mans-winning #34 InterEuropol car.

Sarah Bovy was even further ahead of the competition, 0.426 was the gap towards the bright orange #25 Aston Martin. The #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche will start third.