Antonio Fuoco, driving the disqualified car #50, initially secured pole position in the Hyperpole session for the WEC race but has now lost all qualifying times due to a violation discovered after the session. The stewards found that the car’s weight didn’t meet the regulations, leading to its disqualification from qualifying and Hyperpole. As a result, Fuoco’s car will start from the rear of the Hypercar field for the 6-hour race.
With Fuoco’s disqualification, the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh, driven by Matt Campbell, now assumes the pole position. Campbell narrowly beat Alex Lynn’s Chip Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R by a mere 0.008s to secure the top spot on the grid.
Fuoco’s best time of 2m02.600s in qualifying set him apart from his closest rival, Campbell, by a margin of 0.507s. However, this effort, along with all other qualifying times, has been invalidated due to the weight discrepancy found in his car. Fuoco’s previous time in the first qualifying session was also nullified.
The disqualification was attributed to the car being approximately 1 kg under the minimum weight mandated by regulations, which was reportedly due to a new component fitted to the rear end following damage incurred in a collision during FP3. Fuoco’s teammate, James Calado, narrowly missed out on progressing to Hyperpole by 0.021s and is now elevated to tenth on the grid.
In addition to Fuoco’s disqualification, the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S EVO has also lost its second place in the LMGT3 category for the same infringement. Josh Caygill, Nico Pino, and Marino Sato, who were initially second in LMGT3, will also have to start from the back of the 18-car grid due to the weight violation.
