Disqualified #7 puts Fernando Alonso on Pole for WEC Debut
In an unexpected turn of events, the #7 Toyota has lost its pole position to the sister car, granting Fernando Alonso pole position in his first World Endurance Championship race.
Due to a fuel flow infringement, the #8 Toyota has been stripped of the pole position it claimed earlier on today. During qualifying, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi put in a mega effort to set an average lap time of 1:54.583, but that will now be rendered moot as the car will have to start from the back of the grid.
According to the stewards' notice, the team incorrectly declared the Fuel Flow Meter and following a hearing and the team accepting the facts stated to them by the stewards, the decision has been made to cancel all the lap times the car set during qualifying. The #8 will start the race from the pit lane, which grants the sister car of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso, pole position.
The #8 will now find itself alongside Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani and Bruno Senna in the #1 Rebellion R13 as the car is promoted to the front row of the grid. Given that the #7 must start from the pitlane, that now means that the #17 SMP Racing of Stephane Sarrazin, Egor Orudzhev and Matevos Isaakyan (which sits at the back of the grid) is no longer the last starting car - the #7 must wait until all cars have passed before leaving the pit lane. Providing they can repair damage sustained earlier today, the #10 Dragonspeed BR1 will also be starting towards the back of the grid having only set a qualifying time with one driver.
Tomorrow's race starts at 13.30 CET.
This article was originally published on Overtake Motorsport.
Shared with permission from the author.
Cover Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing
