WEC 6 Hours of Austin: Rebellion and Aston Martin on Pole

No suspense, logic prevailed. Favored by the success handicap and leading during both practice sessions, Rebellion secured pole position for the 6 Hours of Austin effortlessly.

However, in the Rebellion stand, there was stress. After the first round of laps, the Swiss were only half a second ahead of Toyota. And fate came to meddle in the race. « Red flag I don’t see the point, really don’t see the point » one lamented, frustrated. The prototype qualification was indeed marked by a red flag, which came out very (too?) quickly.

Six minutes before the end of the session, the High Class Racing LMP2 stops at the side of the track and causes a yellow flag. At the same time, the Rebellion is on a very fast lap, likely for pole position. As it begins its final turn, the red flag is shown… And five seconds later, the LMP2 is back on track.

But the incident did not have any repercussions, as the Toyota #8, the main threat, exceeded the track limits on its second-to-last fast lap. Without a time until then, Brendon Hartley then had to make sure to at least start on the front row.

In LMP2, Cool Racing came to outpace United Autosport, who was very strong during free practice, at the very end of the session. A saving pole position for the Swiss team, which had fallen into line in recent races after a strong start to the season.

Above the rest. Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen each set the fastest time in their qualifying run to place the Aston Martin #95 on pole in the GTE-Pro category, with a two-tenths lead. A significant gap, as five other cars are within three-tenths. The championship leaders seem in excellent form in Austin, as they finished second in free practice 2. A race victory would give them a nice cushion ahead in the title hunt.

Far behind, the Corvette. While it seemed to have returned to the top times during the second free practice, the American car couldn’t compete for pole position. It finished more than two seconds behind. The law of learning.

The GTE-Am were very fast, two seconds off the best GTE-Pro. Leading during the free practice sessions, Team Project One, Dempsey-Proton Racing, and Aston Martin contended for the pole.