History repeats itself as Cadillac looks to defend its first WEC win, yet again qualifying 1-2 for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at Interlagos. Cadillac got the first part of the job done, as they look to repeat last year's 1-2 result at the Six Hours of Sao Paulo by locking up the front row in Saturday's Hyperpole.
Will Stevens captured pole for the six-hour race after his Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA garage mate Jack Aiken in the No. 38 bailed on his final push lap while ahead of his provisional pole time. Stevens piloted the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar to the pole with a time of 1:23.041, 0.048 seconds faster than Aiken to repeat their qualifying result from last year.
View Price on AmazonQualifying speeds are down across the board this year, with last year's top four times beating out this year's pole. Cadillac would turn their 1-2 in qualifying to a 1-2 finish to capture their first FIA win last year, a salve to a heartbreak of missing the podium at Le Mans after a 1-2 start.
For the second year in a row, Cadillac looks to shine after a heartbreaking outing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 6 Hours of Sao Paulo has never been won by further back than second, putting extra pressure on the team's qualifying runs.
The No. 12 car is going with a two-driver team for the shortest endurance race on the WEC calendar. With Stevens being joined only by Norman Nato. The No. 36 Alpine Endurance Team A424 will start third, followed by the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8. The No. 35 Alpine follows in fifth.
After posting the second-fastest time in qualifying for Hyperpole, Mathieu Jaminet gives Genesis Magma Racing its best starting position to date by placing the No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 sixth in Hyperpole.
The defending Le Mans winning Toyota Racing TR010 will start 16th, and their sister car, the No. 8, 14th, as they failed to make it into Hyperpole. Toyota also failed to make it into Hypercar 2 at Le Mans to start 14 and 15, where they ultimately drove through the field and into contention early in the 24-hour race, leading to a duo podium and a win for the No. 7 TR010.
Toyota will look to do the near-impossible by moving through the field at Interlagos and protecting its championship lead over BMW and Ferrari. The No. 50 Ferrari will start seventh, and the No. 83 yellow Af Course Ferrari will start tenth. The No. 51 Ferrari narrowly missed the Hyperpole cut line and will start 11th ahead of the second Genesis.
The No. 20 BMW M Team M Hybrid V8 will start last in the class. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin GT3 Evo entry piloted by Kobe Paulwels took pole in the LMGT3 category. This is just Pauwels' second WEC race. They’ll start at the front of class next to the class championship leaders, the No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes Evo.
Source: roadandtrack.com
