6h CoTA: Front row lock out for Porsche

Porsche once again locked out the front row of the grid for this weekends Round 6 of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the Circuit of the Americas in a very hot and steamy Austin, Texas.

The #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Jani, Lotterer and Tandy will start from pole position after Britain's Nick Tandy put in a last minute dash to the line, after a previous lap was deleted due to exceeding track limits, to snatch pole away from the sister car, with a time of 1:44.741 around the 5.513 mile circuit. Tandy commented after the race: “On my first lap I hit the kerb on the inside of turn 19. The car jumped and I then ran wide on the exit. Track limits are limits, we all know that and in case anything unforeseen happens, we always leave ourselves enough time for a second run. On this second lap, I had a good idea of how the track was plus how the car was and I felt very comfortable.”

Porsche #2 of Bamber, Bernhard and Hartley will start from 2nd with the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing of Buemi, Sarrazin and Nakajima in 3rd and the #7 of Conway, Kobayashi and Lopez in 4th.

In the LMP2 field the #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut claimed their second pole of the season with Lapierre, Negrao and Menezes with a time of 1:54.024. The #13 Vaillante Rebellion and the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing were 2nd and 3rd respectively.

GTE Pro was it's usual closely fought battle won this time by the #71 AF Corse Ferrari of Rigon and Bird, with a Priaulx/Tincknell Ford and Thiim/Sorensen Aston making it three different manufacturers claiming the top three spots.

And rounding up your field for tomorrow's 6 hour endurance race is the GTE Am class with the #98 Aston Martin of Dalla Lana, Lamy and Lauda on class pole with a 2:06.031 with two Ferrari's close on their heels. Spirit of Race #54 is 2nd and 3rd being the #61 Clearwater Racing of Mok, Sawa and Griffin.

Tomorrow's 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas starts at 12 noon local time.