The 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) saw a different pole-sitter in LMP1 class with #1 Rebellion Racing securing its first for 4 Hours of Shanghai.
The handicap system introduced by WEC in LMP1 showed its real effect in 4 Hours of Shanghai with the #1 Rebellion Racing Gibson crew of Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato securing pole with a combined lap of 1m45.892s.
It is the first non-hybrid pole in WEC since the 2012 season. The team beat the two Team LNT Ginettas with the #6 crew of Michael Simpson, Guy Smith and Charlie Robertson taking the front-row from the #5 crew of Ben Hanley, Jordan King and Egor Orudzhev.
The two Toyotas were fourth and fifth with the #7 crew of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi ahead of #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima. It is the first non-Toyota WEC pole in 10 races.
The handicap of over 2.5s proved to be a handful. Over in the LMP2 category, #42 Cool Racing Oreca of Nicolas Lapierre, Antonin Borga and Alexandre Coigny claimed pole ahead of #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Gabriel Aubry, Will Stevens and Ho-Pin Tung.
The Top 3 was rounded out by #22 United Autosports Oreca of Paul di Resta, Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque, with #33 High Class Racing Oreca fourth from #38 Jota Oreca, #43 Cetilar Racaing Dallara, #36 Signatech Alpine and #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca.
LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am
The LMGTE Pro class saw #92 Porsche’s Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen secure WEC 4 Hours of Shanghai pole ahead of the two Aston Martin Racing crews, with #95 of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim ahead of #97 of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin.
The two AF Corse Ferraris were next up with #51 ahead in fourth from #71 as #91 Porsche rounded out the six qualifiers. At the same time, the LMGTE Am class had #56 Team Project 1 Porsche’s Matteo Cairoli, Egidio Perfetti and David Heinemeier Hansson on pole.
They were followed by #98 Aston Martin Racing in second with #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche in third as #90 TF Sport Aston Martin lined up in fourth, with the Top 5 then rounded out by #57 Team Project 1 Porsche.
Click here for the full qualifying results