Antonio Fuoco claimed a home pole position for Ferrari in qualifying for the World Endurance Championship finale at Monza.
The Italian was the pacesetter throughout the two quick-fire sessions of qualifying on Saturday afternoon aboard the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar car.
Fuoco got down to 1m33.364s as the times steadily improved in cold conditions through the final 10-minute Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars from first qualifying.
That bettered the 1m33.460s set by Mathieu Jaminet in the #19 Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar by just under one hundredth of a second.
Fuoco said: “It is very special to be on pole at Monza and I am very happy because the car was mega today. The conditions were very tricky and the guys did an amazing job to put the car down on the track with an amazing baseline.”
All three practice sessions were wet apart from the very final minutes of FP3 on Friday, meaning that the first proper dry running for the WEC field came in qualifying.
Earl Bamber took third place for the Jota Cadillac team, ending up a further hundredth down on the Genesis at the wheel of #38 Caddy V-Series.R LMDh with a 1m33.541s.
#17 Genesis Magma Racing Genesis GMR-001: Andre Lotterer, Pipo Derani, Mathys Jaubert
Photo by: FIA WEC / DPPI
Antonio Giovinazzi posted a 1m33.573s to take fourth in the #51 factory Ferrari.
Peugeot claimed fifth with Theo Pourchaire in the #94 9X8 LMH courtesy of a 1m33.617s, just ahead of Victor Martins in the #36 Alpine A424s on 1m33.858s.
Norman Nato placed seventh in the Hyperpole session in the #12 Jota Caddy, a couple of hundredths up on Robert Kubica in Ferrari’s satellite Hypercar entry.
Nick Cassidy aboard the #93 Peugeot and Sheldon van der Linde driving the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh rounded out the top 10.
Neither of the Toyotas, which are the only cars still in the hunt for the drivers’ title on the final weekend of the championship, made it through into Hyperpole.
Ryo Hirakawa ended up 15th in first qualifying in the championship leading #8 Toyota HYBRID TR010 Le Mans Hypercar, one place ahead of team-mate Kamui Kobayashi in #7.
Aston Martin also failed to progress, Marco Sorensen taking 12th in the #009 Valkyrie LMH and Harry Tincknell 14th in #007 in the 12-minute opening session.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TR010: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo by: FIA WEC / DPPI
Lexus claimed pole position in LMGT3 at the last race for its RC F GT3 before the long-serving car is replaced by Toyota’s GR GT3 next season.
Hadrien David took the top spot in qualifying in the #76 Auto Sport Promotion Lexus at the end of a closely fought Hyperpole session in which the top three cars were separated by just six hundredths.
David posted a 1m47.523, which compared with LMGT3 points leader Jonny Edgar’s 1m47.537s in the #33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Ben Tuck was right behind on a 1m47.595s in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 Evo.
Eduardo Barrichello ended up fourth in #23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage after losing a time that would have put him on the pole to a track limits infraction.
The Monza 6 Hours starts at 11:00 local time on Sunday.
1'33.364
+0.096
1'33.460
+0.177
1'33.541
+0.209
1'33.573
+0.253
1'33.617
+0.494
1'33.858
+0.536
1'33.900
+0.558
1'33.922
+0.720
1'34.084
+1.051
1'34.415
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- The Autosport.com Team
Source: Autosport