BREAKING: Peugeot claims maiden WEC pole in Spa

Text & Images: Rick Kiewiet

Malthe Jakobsen delivered Peugeot its first-ever FIA World Endurance Championship pole position on Friday, steering the #94 Peugeot 9X8 to a 2:00.653 in Hyperpole at Spa-Francorchamps. It was a landmark moment for the French manufacturer, coming at the 9X8's 28th WEC race start.

Hypercar

The achievement was all the more notable given Jakobsen had spun at Raidillon on his out lap during the opening qualifying segment, forcing him to pit for a second set of tyres to set a competitive time. He recovered to progress, then delivered in Hyperpole. Will Stevens pushed him hardest in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, coming up just 0.043 seconds short with a 2:00.696. Alpine locked out the second row through Charles Milesi's #35 and Jules Gounon's #36 A424, with Jack Aitken fifth on his Hypercar debut in the #38 Cadillac.

The two Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyries of Marco Sørensen (#009) and Harry Tincknell (#007) qualified sixth and seventh, ahead of Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari 499P. Stoffel Vandoorne's #93 Peugeot and Dries Vanthoor's #15 BMW M Team WRT rounded out the top ten. Both Toyota GR010 Hybrids failed to reach Hyperpole, as did two of the three Ferrari 499Ps — among the more significant results of the session.

LMGT3

In LMGT3, Akkodis ASP Team secured back-to-back Spa pole positions as rookie Hadrien David topped Hyperpole in the #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 with a 2:16.612. The French driver, in his debut WEC season, beat Zacharie Robichon's #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 by 0.194 seconds — a strong turnaround for Heart of Racing after neither car reached Hyperpole at Imola. It also marked the third LMGT3 pole for Lexus overall.

David's teammate Tom van Rompuy only just made it through qualifying, squeezing into Hyperpole by 0.067 seconds.

Ben Tuck qualified third in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 Evo, with the #87 Lexus of Clemens Schmid fourth and the #88 Ford fifth. The Imola class winner, the #69 WRT BMW, will start near the back of the LMGT3 field carrying success ballast, as will the #33 TF Sport Corvette. The TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps gets underway at 14:00 CEST on Saturday.