Fuji WEC: Alonso/Buemi track limits error hands sister Toyota pole

Alonso topped the times in the #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID after the first runs with a 1m23.203s that put him just over two tenths up on the 1m23.437s from Lopez.

Kobayashi then went quickest during the second runs with a 1m23.678s, which fell six thousandths short of ousting the sister car from pole.

But when Buemi lost his 1m23.900s to a track limits infringement and could only follow it up with a 1m24.094s his and Alonso's average dropped below that of their team-mates.

Lopez and Kobayashi ended up on 1m23.557s, which put them a shade under a tenth up on Alonso and Buemi's 1m23.648s.

Lopez said: "My lap was OK. I didn't have maximum confidence, but I new I was close enough for Kamui to do his job because he is always quick around here."

The two Rebellion-Gibson R-13 privateers LMP1s both ended up within a second of the Toyota hybrids following the latest Equivalence of Technology changes in the lead-up to the event.

The series also took the unusual step of tweaking the EoT further after the first two Friday practice sessions.

Andre Lotterer's best privateer lap in the #1 Rebellion Racing entry was only eight tenths off Alonso's pace.

He and team-mate Neel Jani ended up a similar margin off the pole with a 1m24.359s average.

That put them just under two tenths up on the 1m24.533s average of the second Rebellion qualified by Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent.

SMP Racing took fifth and sixth positions with its pair of AER-engined BR Engineering BR1s.

Jenson Button just pipped Stephane Sarrazin on the first runs, but Egor Orudzhev then went a second quicker than Vitaly Petrov to reverse the positions in the final qualifying order.

Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez took LMP2 pole aboard the DragonSpeed ORECA-Gibson 07 on Michelin tyres.

Davidson set the fastest P2 time of the session with a 1m28.011s, which Gonzalez followed up on with a 1m29.802s.

That was enough to give them a 1m28.906s average and a half second advantage over the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA qualified by Jazeman Jaafar and Nabil Jeffri.

The second of the Dunlop-shod Chan/DC ORECAs qualified third in the hands of Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry.

The new Aston Martin Vantage GTE claimed its first class pole position in GTE Pro with Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen (above).

Thiim topped the times after the first runs with a session-best 1m35.884s, before Sorensen followed it up with a 1m36.302s.

That gave the Danish duo an 1m36.093s average, which gave them the pole by nearly two tenths from the MTEK BMW M8 GTE shared by Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Felix da Costa.

Blomqvist was the only driver other than Thiim to break the 1m36s barrier. His 1m35.930s combined with da Costa's 1m36.621s to give them a 1m36.275s average.

Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin in the second Aston were a further tenth back.

Matteo Cairoli and WEC debutant Satoshi Hoshino took GTE Am pole for the Dempsey Proton Porsche team.

Qualifying result

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