Jarvis blames track limits slip for losing pole to sister Audi

Jarvis lost the chance to improve on his final lap when he spun his #8 Audi R18 at the NGK Chicane, but says losing his earlier quickest time to a track-limits offence truly cost them.

“The mistake actually came earlier in the session,” Jarvis admitted. “I had my third lap taken away from me due to track limits. Otherwise we would have been comfortably on pole. [Teammate] Lucas [di Grassi] did a stunning lap, so the car was there.”

Of his spin in the dying moments of the session, he explained: “Basically I arrived at the chicane and it was raining. We were unlucky.

“After I jumped back in at the end, I had traffic on the first lap and then it rained on the second. Otherwise I’m pretty confident I would have been on pole.”

“Nobody expected it”

Despite his frustration at missing out on pole, Jarvis was delighted for his Joest-run Audi squad, which was coming off the back of a dismal showing in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

“It’s a fantastic result,” said Jarvis of the front-row lockout. "Nobody expected it from Audi. To come here when we were so far off last year and to get a 1-2 is a great result.

“But we’ve seen in testing that Porsche and Toyota are very quick so it’s going to be a tough six hours.

“The weather is going to play a huge role. In qualifying it went from wet to damp to completely dry and to wet again. If you have weather like that in the race, it’s going to be a gamble and a case of being on the right tyre at the right time."

Regardless of the weather conditions, the #8 Audi is looking to close the gap to the leading #2 Porsche in the title race.

“Even if you’re thinking of the championship, you’ve got to go for the win,” Jarvis added. “We’re 39 points away, so we can’t afford to lose any more points to the #2 Porsche.”