Porsche Penske Motorsport will start the 100th race in the history of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) from the fourth row of the grid. At Fuji Speedway, Julien Andlauer set the seventh fastest time in the Hyperpole session with the Porsche 963.

The Frenchman shares the approximately 500 kW (680 hp) hybrid prototype in Japan with his compatriot Mathieu Jaminet. Both are former Porsche Juniors. Kévin Estre was denied a place in the top ten with the sister car in qualifying. Together with Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium, the Frenchman will start the 6-hour race from 17th position. The Proton Competition customer team is fielding the third Porsche 963 in the field of 18th place for round seven of the FIA WEC season.

Compared to the practice sessions on Friday, qualifying started with an air temperature of 24 degrees and 37 degrees hot asphalt with slightly cooler temperatures. In the LMGT3 class, the American Ryan Hardwick had made it into the Hyperpole session of the top ten as sixth fastest in the Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey 1st Phorm. There, his Italian teammate Riccardo Pera secured fifth place on the grid with a lap time of 1m 40.414s. Works driver Richard Lietz from Austria completes the trio in the GT3 race car from Weissach with up to 416 kW (565 hp). The 911 GT3 R of the Iron Dames project did not make it into the Hyperpole. Célia Martin set the 17th fastest time in qualifying. The Frenchwoman shares the 911 with Rahel Frey from Switzerland and Denmark's Michelle Gatting.

"In the qualifying segment, the first 17 race cars were within one second of each other and therefore extremely close together. Too bad for Kévin Estre: He tried, but didn't quite succeed. Our number 5 Porsche with Julien Andlauer made it into the Hyperpole, where he was seven tenths of a second off the best time. For tomorrow, however, we can count on a good race performance – we know that we are strong," sums up Urs Kuratle, Vice President Factory Motorsport LMDh. We're hoping for mixed conditions, because then we're usually in a good position compared to the competition. But that also applies if it stays dry."

"Of course, we're disappointed that our number 6 race car didn't have the opportunity to do a good lap. His grid position does not reflect his performance," explains Jonathan Diuguid, Executive Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. "Julien Andlauer did a good job and qualified for the Hyperpole. In terms of our potential, the second row of the grid would probably have been within reach. Our race pace makes me confident – I'm excited to see where we'll finish the race."

Round seven of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season gets underway on Sunday (28 September) at 11:00 a.m. local time (4:00 a.m. CEST). Sport 1 streams the 6-hour race in Germany free-to-air on the Internet and also shows it temporarily on the TV channel. In addition, there are the fee-based live offers of the FIA WEC (fiawec.tv/App including live timing) and Eurosport.

Drivers' comments after qualifying

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 963 #5): "Qualifying done! I think we prepared really well for the race in the free practice sessions. Fourth place in the first segment and seventh place on the grid in the Hyperpole – I couldn't quite put it together. Our Porsche has great potential, we have maximised practically everything. In the six-hour race, the weather could be changeable. If we get through without any problems, a top-5 result or even a podium result should be possible."

Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): "That was perhaps the worst qualifying session of my WEC career. I just didn't manage a clean lap, I couldn't go much faster with the car. There's still some set-up work ahead of us and I can still improve. Julien Andlauer has shown what was possible with the Porsche. We are now concentrating on a thorough analysis."

Nico Varrone (Porsche 963 #99): "We lacked the necessary performance here at Fuji in all the free practice sessions. We have made some changes and thus brought our Porsche 963 into a better performance window. So things look better now than at the beginning, but we are still not competitive enough. We have more analysis and work ahead of us to find some pace for tomorrow."

Rahel Frey (Porsche 911 GT3 R #85): "We definitely can't be satisfied with qualifying. Things went very well for us in the free practice sessions, everything worked harmoniously. Today would certainly have been more within reach, but Célia just didn't feel comfortable with the car – we now have to understand why. In Le Mans, Sao Paulo and Austin, our pace was great. Unfortunately, we have to start the race from the back, which makes it a bit complicated here at Fuji. Now we can show what we can do once again and trust that the team will help us again with a great strategy. Everything is still open for tomorrow."

Riccardo Pera (Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): "Fifth place on the grid is a really nice result for us and gives us a good starting position for the race, because that's where it counts. We are also thinking about the championship, which we currently lead by 19 points. Therefore, we have to cleverly stay out of all difficulties and come through cleanly. I think we have a pretty good package for that."

Results Qualifying

Hypercar class:
1st Lynn/Nato/Stevens (GBR/FRA/GBR), Cadillac #12, 1m 28.236s
2nd Bamber/Bourdais/Button (NZL/FRA/GBR), Cadillac #38, 1m 28.675s
3rd Riberas/Sörensen (ESP/DEN), Aston Martin #009, 1m 28.705s
7th Andlauer/Jaminet (FRA/FRA), Porsche 963 #5, 1m 29.031s
17th Estre/Vanthoor (FRA/BEL), Porsche 963 #6, 1m 29.920s
18th Jani/Pino/Varrone (CHE/CHL/ARG), Porsche 963 #99, 1m 30.085s

LMGT3 class:
1st Barrichello/McIntosh/Hasse Clot (BRA/USA/FRA), Aston Martin #10, 1m 39.981s
2nd Leung/Galael/Sato (GBR/INA/JPN), McLaren #95, 1m 40.011s
3rd Cottingham/Baud/Saucy (GBR/FRA/CHE), McLaren #59, 1m 40.013s
5th Hardwick/Lietz/Pera (USA/AUT/ITA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 1m 40.414s
17th Frey/Gatting/Martin (CHE/DNK/FRA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #85, 1m 42.284s

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