Campbell Takes Pole with Porsche in Qatar

In the qualifying for the Qatar 1812Km race of the World Endurance Championship, Matt Campbell, driving the Porsche 963 for the Porsche Penske Motorsport team, secured the pole position. His time of 1m39.347s in the Hyperpole session, a new format for 2024, put him at the top, marking an important moment for the team and the LMDh category.

Nyck de Vries, driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing, took the second position with a time of 1m39.511s in his Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar. Toyota showed clear improvement in performance compared to pre-season testing. Callum Ilott, from Hertz Team JOTA, achieved third place with a time of 1m39.622s in another Porsche 963.

Antonio Fuoco, driving the Ferrari 499P for Ferrari AF Corse, recorded a time of 1m39.976s, placing fourth, just ahead of Kevin Estre of Porsche Penske Motorsport. Jean-Eric Vergne, in the Peugeot 9X8 of Peugeot TotalEnergies, completed the top six.

In the LMGT3 category, Tom van Rompuy, driver for TF Sport Chevrolet, took the pole in his Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.R with a time of 1m54.372s. Aliaksandr Malykhin of Manthey PureRxcing in the Porsche 911 GT3 R and Thomas Flohr of AF Corse in the Ferrari 296 GT3 followed in the lead positions.

The Qatar 1812Km race, which will run for a maximum of 10 hours, is scheduled to start at 11:00 local time on Saturday. With a variety of manufacturers and strategies, the race promises to be a highlight in the motorsport calendar.