Toyota’s Silverstone front row lockout

Toyota Racing has secured the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Silverstone. Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre will start from pole position for the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in the Toyota TS030 Hybrid with an average time from the four fastest laps of 1m48.021, +1.974 seconds ahead of their teammates Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi in the nr8 Toyota.

The nr2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron will head the second row. The nr 12 Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota finished in 4th place, pushing world champions Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler onto row three.

The LMP2 grid will be headed by the nr25 Delta-ADR Oreca Nissan with Antonio Pizzonia and James Walker posting an average time over the four laps of 1:53.810. The Silverstone based team celebrated as the time was 2.4 seconds ahead of the nr24 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan.

Aston Martin Racing also had cause to celebrate as three of their cars posted the three fastest times in GTE to claim both poles in the GTE Pro and GTE Am classes. Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke claimed pole position in GTE Pro with an average time over the four laps of 2m00.566, just two tenths of a second ahead of the nr99 Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy and Fred Makowiecki.

The nr 96 Aston Martin Vantage of Stuart Hall and Jamie Campbell-Walter was the third fastest GTE car to claim pole position in GTE Am, finishing ahead of the two Porsche AG Team Manthey Porsche 911s and the nr51 AF Corse Ferrari.

Alex Wurz Nr7 Toyota Racing Toyota TS030-Hybrid
“It was a new qualifying format but today it was totally overshadowed by the weather conditions. With a rain shower at the beginning and a drying track at the end it was quite tricky. Nico did a super job in the first stint. I took over the car with slick tyres and the circuit was dry enough to put in a good lap time. So we are very happy; we have pole position and that’s what we like.”

Nicolas Lapierre Nr7 Toyota Racing Toyota TS030-Hybrid
“It is a really good start to the season getting the pole position here at Silverstone in those difficult conditions. It was a good strategy from the engineers, drivers and all the team. Pole position is one thing but also getting the fastest lap is very important for us and gives us confidence for tomorrow. The car is looking good. It will be a tough race but it’s so important for us to start first and second on the grid so we are very happy right now.”

Darren Turner Nr 97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8
“It’s a great way to start to the 2013 WEC. We’re all very proud of the boys who have really been up against it to get four cars ready for this weekend; it’s a lovely reward for them to see both cars take pole. Yesterday was tricky; we missed the first session so have been playing catch up a little. Also, with the mixed conditions no one has an idea what their cars will be like in the race.

"The qualifying format is different to what anyone is used to and our directive was to go flat out. To get a good result for Aston Martin this weekend is fantastic. It’s an important year for us and we want to hit the ground running. Qualifying isn’t that important in endurance racing, but it’s certainly a nice birthday treat.”

Jamie Campbell-Walter Nr 96 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8
“Obviously, we arrived at Silverstone with the same specification car as the one that won in Shanghai at the end of last year. This has enabled us as a team of three drivers to feel comfortable in the car very quickly. Aston Martin Racing did a fantastic job and we all pushed hard. It’s the home race for Aston Martin in its centenary year so it’s a great way to kick the season off.”

The 6 Hours of Silverstone will start at 12:00 on Sunday 14 April and is the opening round of the eight race FIA World Endurance Championship.

FIA WEC