Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi claimed Toyota’s 20th ever FIA WEC front-row lockout to ensure they start 1-2 for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Portimao, the second round of the 2023 FIA WEC.
The Kiwi driver scorched to a best lap of 1m30.171 in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to beat his stablemate and boss Kobayashi by 0.273 seconds.
The two Ferrari 499Ps will start from the second row of the grid, with the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse driven by Nicklas Nielsen in third place with a best lap of 1m31.596.
James Calado took fourth, ahead of the No. 6 Porsche 963 Hypercar driven by Kevin Estre, while Nico Mueller in the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 took sixth place.
LMP2 saw high-drama as Mirko Bortolotti fought back from technical issues and one of his laps being deleted to take the category pole by 0.001s, the smallest margin ever for pole in LMP2. It was also Prema’s first ever WEC pole.
LMGTE Am fell to Ben Keating, who avenged losing a Sebring pole to the Iron Dames Porsche by claiming top spot in Portugal.
The 6 hour race will start at 12h00 local time tomorrow (Sunday 16 April).