Giovinazzi beats Kubica to pole as Ferrari locks out front row

Antonio Giovinazzi claimed Ferrari’s second World Endurance Championship pole position of the season ahead of Sunday’s Austin round. 

The Italian topped the times in the Hyperpole session for the fastest 10 cars in first qualifying by nearly three tenths of a second in the best of the Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars.

Giovinazzi flew around the 3.43-mile Circuit of The Americas in a 1m50.390s on his first push lap in the 10-minute final qualifying period. 

That gave him the top spot spot by four tenths from the Alpine A424 LMDh of Charles Milesi before a late improvement from Robert Kubica aboard the customer Ferrari. 

Kubica vaulted up the times with a 1m50.667s to make it an all-Ferrari front row for the sixth round of the 2024 WEC. 

Giovinazzi, who was also fastest in the first segment of qualifying, said: “We showed from FP1 that we have a fast car and I did two good laps in qualifying — I am very happy with that. 

“Our race pace also seems pretty good, so let’s finish the job tomorrow.”

Alex Lynn also improved at the death, getting down to a 1m50.680s in the solo Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R to claim third spot on the grid for the Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race. 

His lap pushed the Alpine down to fourth after Milesi was unable to improve on the 1m50.751s he set on his first push lap. 

The late improvements relegated the second factory Ferrari qualified by Fuoco, who was on pole at Imola in April, down to fifth, his 1m50.818s leaving him over four tenths back on his team-mate. 

Matt Campbell jumped from ninth to sixth at the end of the session, the Australian getting down to a 1m50.874s in the best of the Penske-run factory Porsche 963 LMDhs. 

Both WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs made it through to Hyperpole, the two cars ending up seventh and eighth. 

A 1m50.882s from Robin Frijns just shaded the 1m50.938s posted by Dries Vanthoor in the sister car. 

Kamui Kobayashi was ninth in the only one of the two Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMHs to make the Hyperpole cut, his 1m50.951s making him the last driver to get within a second of Giovinazzi.

The top 10 was rounded out by the customer Jota Porsche qualified by Norman Nato, who was just over a second off the pace on 1m51.532s.

Neither Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH made it through to Hyperpole despite a late improvement from Mikkel Jensen in the #93 entry. 

The Dane was less than a second off the pace in the opening session with a 1m51.659s, which left him just two hundredths behind 10th-placed Nato. 

The championship-leading Penske Porsche ended up down in 14th place, 1.2s off the pace in the hands of Kevin Estre. 

Aston fastest in LMGT3

#27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, Alex Riberas

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Ian James and the Heart of Racing Aston Martin squad took its first pole in the GT ranks since joining the WEC last year. 

The HoR team principal clamed top spot in LMGT3 with a 2m05.587s aboard his Aston Martin Vantage GT3, preventing Iron Dames Lamborghini driver Sarah Bovy from taking a third pole of the season. 

She was nearly two tenths behind in the Iron Lynx-run Huracan GT3 EVO2 on a 2m05.759s in the LMGT3 Hyperpole session.

Francois Heriau jumped to third right at the end of the 10-minute session aboard the best of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s courtesy of a 2m06.011s. 

Alex Malykhin took fourth the points-leading Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 GT3-R despite the German car taking a 15kg hit under the Balance of Performance for Austin and 30kg of success ballast. 

Two-time WEC GTE Am title winner Ben Keating ended up sixth in the only one of the Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3s to progress to Hyperpole on his return to the series. 

A late improvement in the 12-minute opening qualifying session got him through into Hyperpole aboard a car he had not driven until first free practice on Friday.

The green flag will fall on the Lone Start Le Mans at 13:00 local time on Sunday. 

WEC COTA — Qualifying results: