6H Monza: Lopez claims Hypercar pole for #7, Estre continues qualifying form in GTE-Pro

Jose Maria Lopez of the #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing car claimed his first pole position of this season ahead of tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Monza.

A thrilling two-part qualifying session took place for the third round of Season 9 with temperatures much cooler compared to FP2 and FP3 running earlier in the day.

The #71 Inception Racing will not make their WEC debut this weekend after sustaining damage to the rear of the car from an incident at Ascari during FP2.

Nonetheless, qualifying allowed 19 GTEs and 17 LMP2s/Hypercars to fight out at the Temple of Speed within each of the 10-minute sessions.

Traffic and track limits were a factor to put the pressure on drivers with such a small window to pursue one or two flying laps.

Ben Keating of the #33 TF Sport in GTE-Am had his first quick lap ruined due to traffic he caught up.

The fight for pole was tight between Keating and home hero AF Corse with reigning GTE-Am champion Francois Perrodo.

It was Keating who denied a pole position to the #83 with a 1m47.272s to clear Perrodo by almost three-tenths.

The #60 failed to set a flying lap-time due to track limits, adding to a pit-lane speed infringement.

In GTE-Pro, Kevin Estre asserted his qualifying form in equal attempt to deny Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 AF Corse.

Their fight for pole as the fastest GTE was close, but saw Estre edge his Ferrari rival by 0.065s with a 1m46.412s.

In a more dramatic second session for the remaining two classes, the #7 Toyota aborted its first flying lap after locking up the rears at Turn 1 and headed straight onwards.

The Toyotas soon entered their form with Brendon Hartley breaking into the 1m35s barrier in the championship-leading #8, but Jose Maria Lopez bettered his existing strong form this weekend to secure (overall) pole in Hypercars.

A red flag was deployed with 2m47s on the clock after Stoffel Vandoorne in the #28 crashed into the barrier at the exit of the first Lesmo.

After not setting a flying lap, he will start at the back of the LMP2 field and puts it unlikely to claim a consecutive win after Portimao.

The session was restarted after Vandoorne, who walked away from the incident, and his car were transported – and the Tecpro Barrier was repaired.

Anthony Davidson in the sister JOTA utilised this lifeline to set a flying lap, edging themselves into 6th-in-class.

It was WEC Season 9 rookie Charles Milesi who charged to pole position in LMP2.