FIA WEC – Fuoco claims sensational pole position on Ferrari AF Corse 499P debut at Sebring

Ferrari celebrates its return to the top class of global endurance racing in 50 years as AF Corse Ferrari takes pole for tomorrow’s 1000 Miles of Sebring, the season-opener to this year’s FIA WEC.

Antonio Fuoco clocked a time of 1m.45.067s in the Ferrari 499P Hypercar to claim pole position, also making Ferrari the seventh manufacturer to score an overall WEC pole in the championship’s history.

United Autosports were the team to beat in LMP2 as Britain’s Oliver Jarvis took the No. 23 Oreca 07 Gibson car to the top of the times. Meanwhile, LMGTE Am saw the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR – 19 lead the 14 GTE Am field with Sarah Bovy at the wheel. It marks Bovy’s third pole in the last four WEC races.

Below are the main headlines from this evening’s qualifying sessions:

Hypercar – Polesitter: Antonio Fuoco

• Antonio Fuoco takes brilliant pole on debut of Ferrari 499P with a lap of 1m45.067s in the No.50 Ferrari 499P Hypercar

• Fuoco’s best is 0.214s ahead of Brendon Hartley driven No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar

• Ferrari celebrate first point and pole after returning to top class of global endurance racing for first time in half a century

• Kamui Kobayashi places third in the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010

• Ferrari AF Corse place fourth as Alessandro Pier Guidi sets time

• Cadillac place fifth as Alex Lynn sets a 1m446.082s best in new Cadillac V-Series.R

• No.6 Porsche Penske 963 driven by Kevin Estre is sixth to ensure four manufacturers are placed in the top six

• Peugeot TotalEnergies place eighth and ninth in the Peugeot 9X8

• Glickenhaus Racing and Floyd Vanwall Racing Team filled the last two spaces with both teams posting sub 1:50s times

LMP2 – Polesitter: Oliver Jarvis

• Oliver Jarvis in the No.23 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson takes pole in LMP2 after becoming the only driver to break the 1m50s barrier

• The British ace sets a best of 1m49.974s lap to lead the 12-car category grid for tomorrow’s race

• Pietro Fittipaldi takes second in the JOTA entered car peaking on a 1m50.067s, just 0.093s off Jarvis’ best

• Robin Frijns takes third place in the No. 31 Team WRT machine as he continues impressive recovery from recent hand and wrist injuries

• No. 36 Alpine ELF Team car driven by Matthieu Vaxiviere is fourth with a late time of 1m50.174s

• Fifth is the No. 48 Hertz Team JOTA Oreca-Gibson as Yifei Ye qualifies car

• No.41 Team WRT round out the top six as Robert Kubica sets 1m50.291s best to ensure the top six are covered by just 0.3s!

LMGTE Am – Polesitter – Sarah Bovy

• Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR 19 takes a sensational pole position after a tooth-and-nail battle with Ben Keating driven Chevrolet Corvette C8.R

• Bovy sets a 1m58.949s best to beat Keating by 0.396s

• Keating in the Corvette Racing entry looked to have taken his second successive pole position at Sebring but is eventually beaten by Bovy

• Iron Dames take early lead in standings after earning first point of the season

• Ahmad Al Harthy makes it three manufacturers in the top three as he takes the TF Sport Aston Martin to a best lap of 1m59.657s

• Luis Perez Companc in the No.83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo places fourth, while No.21 AF Corse and No.56 Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR 19 rounds out top six.

Tomorrow’s 1000 Miles of Sebring will get underway at 12h00 local time.