Porsche Penske Motorsport finished a difficult qualifying session at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in twelfth and 13th place. The Porsche 963 fielded by the Proton Competition customer team also missed out on a place in the top ten Hyperpole session in 14th place.

In the LMGT3 class, the Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey 1st Phorm will start Saturday's 6-hour race from eighth on the grid. The Iron Dames finished the time trial for the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 13th place in the GT3 classification.

After setting the fastest time in the second free practice session on Thursday afternoon, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team went into the first qualifying session full of expectations. In spring-like conditions, the two hybrid prototypes were unable to establish themselves among the top 10 at their first attempt. Only the top ten will advance to the so-called Hyperpole Session. Kévin Estre had to abort his second attempt with the number 6 Porsche 963 after a slight oversteer. The Frenchman shares the race car with the Belgian Laurens Vanthoor and Pascal Wehrlein. Estre and Vanthoor are the reigning defending champions in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Wehrlein won the FIA Formula E World Championship last year. The German is using the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps to prepare for his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. There he competes together with Britain's Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr from Brazil in the third works Porsche 963.

In the No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport car, Julien Andlauer started with two qualifying laps in a row. After a short cooling-off phase, he followed up with a third attempt. In the end, the Frenchman was two tenths of a second short of the top 10. Andlauer forms the driver trio at Spa-Francorchamps together with the Dane Michael Christensen and Nico Müller from Switzerland. Müller is active as a Porsche works driver for the Andretti Formula E customer team. He will take on the role of reserve driver for Porsche Penske Motorsport at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"We knew that after the races in Qatar and Imola, we were in for another difficult race. Nevertheless, we expected the gap to the top to be smaller. Unfortunately, that didn't happen," comments Urs Kuratle, Vice President Factory Motorsport LMDh. "Of course, our team and the drivers are disappointed. In general, very unusual names have not made it into the hyperpoles. Nevertheless, we will fight in the six-hour race. From our starting positions, we can definitely achieve a good result and world championship points."

Proton Competition continued its up-and-coming form in Belgium. The customer team tackles Saturday's 6-hour race from 14th position. Qualifying driver Nico Varrone from Argentina shares the No. 99 Porsche 963 with Neel Jani from Switzerland and Nico Pino from Chile.

Best Porsche 911 GT3 R starts from eighth position

In the first segment of the two-part qualifying session in the LMGT3 class, the American Ryan Hardwick drove the 911 GT3 R of the Porsche customer team Manthey to second place. The racing car, which ran under the entry of Manthey 1st Phorm, had thus made it into the hyperpole of the top ten. Riccardo Pera took over the helm there. The Italian was able to improve the lap time by more than three tenths of a second. In the end, however, this was only enough for eighth place on the grid.

In the 911 GT3 R of the Iron Dames, Frenchwoman Célia Martin set the 13th fastest time in the first qualifying session. The successful initiative for the promotion of girls and women in motorsport will be cooperating intensively with Porsche Motorsport from this year onwards.

The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, gets underway on Saturday (10 May) at 14:00 local time (CEST).

Drivers' comments after qualifying

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 963 #5): "Spa-Francorchamps in qualifying mode is always great fun. I felt comfortable in the Porsche, but didn't get the absolutely perfect lap. In addition, we obviously lack performance. That's why we unfortunately missed the entry into the hyperpoles. Now we're concentrating on tomorrow's race. Hopefully we can fight our way back up there and get a good haul of points."

Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): "We might have made it into the Hyperpole session with a perfect lap, but unfortunately I didn't manage it. Our Porsche 963 was ok, but not outstanding to drive either. I think we could have done a better job. The gap to the top generally seems very large. Of course, this frustrates and disappoints. Tomorrow we have a 6-hour race ahead of us, let's see what's within reach for us."

Nico Varrone (Porsche 963 #99): "I'm quite satisfied – we've improved again compared to yesterday. For us, the free practice sessions always replace the test days. But we're getting closer and closer to the top and the works Porsche, I like that. I did my best, even though I would have liked to have driven even faster on my qualifying lap. Now we have to see what we can still optimize for the race. We want to get the most out of our package."

Célia Martin (Porsche 911 GT3 R #85): "Compared to my qualifying simulation in free practice in the morning, I improved by two tenths of a second. Unfortunately, we would have needed five tenths. I know where I can still find them, but unfortunately I didn't succeed in doing so in the short time available. Now we will continue to work on the set-up for the race, we learned a lot in this regard at the last round in Imola. Our goal is to finish in the points."

Riccardo Pera (Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): "The victory at Imola gave the entire team a real boost of motivation. Eighth place on the grid here at Spa-Francorchamps may not seem ideal, but a lot can happen during the six hours of racing. We have to drive as cleanly as possible and stay out of all trouble. It's just incredibly fun to drive the Porsche 911 GT3 R on this great track."

Results Qualifying

Hypercar class:
1st Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (ITA/ESP/DNK), Ferrari #50, 1m 59.617s
2nd Kubica/Ye/Hanson (POL/CHN/GBR), Ferrari #83, 1m 59.964s
3rd Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi (ITA/GBR/ITA), Ferrari #51, 2m 201s
12th Estre/Vanthoor/Wehrlein (FRA/BEL/DEU), Porsche 963 #6, 2m 01.512s
13th Andlauer/Christensen/Müller (FRA/DNK/SUI), Porsche 963 #5, 2m 01.588s
14th Jani/Pino/Varrone (SUI/CHL/ARG), Porsche 963 #99, 2m 01.837s

LMGT3 class:
1st Robin/Gehrsitz/Nakayama (FRA/DEU/JPN), Lexus #78, 2m 17.732s
2nd Deboer/Barrichello/Hasse Clot (USA/BRA/FRA), Aston Martin #10, 2m 18.008s
3rd Sousa/Tuck/Barker (POR/GBR/GBR), Ford #77, 2m 18.016s
8th Hardwick/Lietz/Pera (USA/AUT/ITA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 2m 18.917s
13th Frey/Gatting/Martin (SUI/DNK/FRA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #85, 2m 20.320s

All results and championship standings at https://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com.