After settling for the runner-up position at the last race, Toyota Gazoo’s Kamui Kobayashi recorded a lap time of 1:23:140 to win the hyperpole event Saturday for the following day’s Six Hours of Sao Paulo.
SAO PAULO, Brazil – The Japanese veteran, along with his teammates, Britain’s Mike Conway, who missed the last race at Le Mans following a biking accident, and Dutchman Nyck De Vries, led a Toyota front row lockout with the second Toyota of Swiss driver Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Rio Hirokawa. Currently leading the constructor’s championship, Porsche Penske Motorsport placed Matt Campbell in third, with the Cadillac in fourth, driven by Alex Lynn.
The second Penske Porsche, with Kevin Estre, and the current Lemans champion Ferrari AF Corse number 50, with Antonio Fuoco, rounded out the rest of the grid. The two Hertz JOTA Porsches took seventh and eighth positions, the second Ferrari AF Corse in ninth, and the BMW M WRT team rounding out the top ten.
While the hypercar event went well for Toyota Gazoo, the LMGT3 division continued success for the Iron Dames Lamborghini team, who were coming off a victory at the recent European Lemans series, recorded the best time in this category, with a 1:34:413 driven by Sarah Bovy, with her teammates Michelle Gatting and Rahal Frey, just ahead of the Porsche Purerxing car, driven by Aliasandr Malykhin.
The leading car was also ahead of the third and fourth-placed McLaren, with fifth going to the series-leading Manthey EMA entry, with Yassar Shahin driving. Completing the rest of the top ten were the WRT BMW M4 with Darren Leung, 7th going to the AF Corse Ferrari, 8th the TF Sport Corvette, 9th the Heart of America Racing Aston Martin, and the last position in the top ten going to the Vista AF Corse Ferrari.
The only stoppage of the entire event occurred when that same 10th-place car, driven by Thomas Flohr, spun early in that session, bringing out a red flag that was quickly over moments later.
The race itself will begin at 11:30 AM on Sunday morning.
