8H Portimao: Alpine secures maiden pole position, Estre continues streak in GTE

Matthieu Vaxiviere of the #36 Alpine Elf Matmut secured pole position in qualifying for the 8 Hours of Portimao on Sunday 13 June.

It was a warm setting for qualifying ahead for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the first time at the Autodromo do Algarve.

Even so, exceeding track limits were a theme across both 10 minute sessions as well as at least two laps enabling the tyres to gain up to operating temperature.

Due to the close nature of timing, many succumbed to pushing with their one outlap.

Qualifying was split into two sessions, one for both Pro and Am LM-GTE classes, and the Hypercars and LMP2s.

In GTE qualifying, François Perrodo of the #83 AF Corse came from a win at Spa to kick off their GTE-Am title defence but were the first to exceed the track limits.

The Frenchman lost his first and second flying laps, putting pressure for a fast third run.

Their sister car, the #54 AF Corse, spun on the approach to Turn 2 as Thomas Flohr kicked up gravel whilst doing so.

Egidio Perfetti of the #56 Team Project 1 took pole in GTE-Am with a time of 1m40.191s.

GTE-Pro’s #52 AF Corse had Daniel Serra’s excession of strict track limits prevented him putting a second flying lap and but soon got his banker lap back to start fourth-in-class.

Kevin Estre continues his form after last week’s Green Hell, and the pole position at Spa, to take a consecutive qualifying success over the GTE field for the #92 Porsche.

In the Hypercar and LMP2 qualifying session, a greater number of cars had their lap-times deleted due to exceeding track limits at Turn 1.

This included the #36 Alpine Elf Matmut, the #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing, and at least four LMP2s.

After a close brawl, it was a 1-2 for the JOTA team after FIA WEC Season 9 rookie Tom Blomqvist took pole in LMP2 with a 1m31.210s.

Home-hero Antonio Felix Da Costa set a time only 0.045s away from the sister car. This ends United Autosports’ pole qualifying streak which began in February 2020.

In Hypercars, Richard Westbrook struggled to get the #709 Glickenhaus Racing up to the pace it showed during FP3 with it being the first ever WEC qualifying session for the team.

It was a jostle for overall/Hypercar pole was between Alpine and Toyota GAZOO Racing.

Matthieu Vaxiviere claimed his first top qualifying spot for Alpine Elf Matmut with a 1m30.364s.