Antonio Giovinazzi secured his second Hyperpole of the FIA World Endurance Championship season by piloting the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P to pole position in a dead heat with Jack Aitken.
Giovinazzi recorded a lap of 1:52.455, precisely matching Aitken’s time in the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R, which came after the Italian’s hot lap.
The leading quartet was separated by a margin of only 0.050 seconds, making this one of the most fiercely contested Hypercar Hyperpole sessions in history.
The Italian will share the defending world champion Ferrari with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Giovinazzi had previously claimed Hyperpole for the season-opening 6 Hours of Imola in April.
Charles Milesi put the No. 35 Alpine A424 on the third-row position, ahead of fourth-placed Harry Tincknell in the No. 007 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie, which only advanced into the shootout in the closing moments of qualifying.
Nicklas Nielsen, who had been quickest in the opening qualifying segment, completed the top five, ahead of the sixth-placed No. 36 Alpine driven by Victor Martins.
The No. 17 Genesis GMR-001, driven by Mathys Jaubert, finished seventh, followed by the two Toyota TS010 Hybrids of Ryo Hirakawa and Kamui Kobayashi, with Mathieu Jaminet rounding out the top ten in the No. 19 Genesis.
Neither the Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s nor the Peugeot 9X8s made it into Hyperpole, with Dries Vanthoor placing the Sao Paulo-winning No. 15 BMW in 11th.
Peugeot’s Malthe Jakobsen ended up 12th, while Sheldon van der Linde was 13th in the joint-points-leading BMW and Robert Kubica 14th in the satellite Ferrari.
The No. 12 JOTA Cadillac, driven by Norman Nato, was 15th, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne’s No. 93 Peugeot and the No. 009 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen, which finished at the rear of the 17-car Hypercar grid.
Barrichello Leads Heart of Racing Front Row Lockout in LMGT3
Eduardo Barrichello claimed Hyperpole honors in LMGT3, delivering a front-row lockout for the two Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evos.
The Brazilian initially posted a best lap of 2:05.103 to edge out his FIA Silver-rated teammate Zach Robichon by 0.181 seconds.
That lap was later disallowed due to track limits, but Barrichello’s second-best effort, a 2:05.160, was still enough to secure Hyperpole.
This marked the fifth different driver to win LMGT3 Hyperpole in as many races this season, even as the American squad claimed a third Hyperpole in a row.
Kobe Pauwels, standing in for Barrichello ahead of his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship duties, earned Hyperpole in the No. 23 Aston Martin in Sao Paulo.
Barrichello will share the driving duties with Jonny Adam and Gray Newell tomorrow.
Timur Boguslavskiy placed the No. 91 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo third, ahead of Ben Tuck’s No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVO and the Finn Gehrsitz-driven No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, which finished fifth in class.
Aston Martin and Ford were the only LMGT3 manufacturers to have both of their cars reach Hyperpole, with the No. 88 Proton Mustang of last year’s Hyperpole winner Giammarco Levorato finishing tenth.
The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari was the first to miss the top-ten shootout, with Thomas Flohr set to start 11th on the grid.
Both TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs were eliminated from Hyperpole contention, as was the No. 69 WRT BMW driven by title contender Anthony McIntosh.
Ben Keating, piloting the No. 33 Corvette that leads the points and carries a 36 kg Success Handicap, will start second-to-last on the grid.
The 6 Hours of COTA is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST with live coverage on FIAWEC+, as well as MotorTrend and HBO Max in the United States and TNT Sports in the United Kingdom.
RESULTS: Qualifying
