Fired-up Fuoco prolongs Ferrari’s peerless pole run

Three weeks after being consigned to the rear of the grid on Ferrari’s home soil for multiple track limits transgressions, Fuoco made no such mistakes at Spa. Fastest in the initial qualifying session by more than a third-of-a-second, the Italian replicated that performance in the 12-minute Hyperpole shootout to atone for his Imola error in fine style. Nobody was able to hold a candle to the 2024 Le Mans winner’s stellar effort aboard the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P prototype.

“To be honest, this what I love about this job, because after Imola there was so much talk going around,” Fuoco revealed. “I know my potential and I know the potential of the team, so it was just a matter of putting everything together and I think today we showed how we react. Imola was a mistake that cost us quite a lot and for sure, the pressure was on my shoulders, but I think I’ve shown it doesn’t make any difference.

“We were able to manage tyre warm-up well, which I think is where we made the difference compared to the others. The car worked really well today and I put quite a clean lap together, which was not easy in these conditions, especially as we only had one ‘push’ lap available. We know it’s going to be a long, tough race, so we just have to try to maximise it.”

The Prancing Horse might ultimately have locked out the top three grid slots around the legendary 7.004km Ardennes circuit – with Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse entry and Antonio Giovinazzi behind the wheel of the #51 ‘works’ car claiming second and third places respectively – but it has not been entirely plain sailing for the championship leaders so far.

In Thursday’s second free practice session, Giovinazzi crashed on his ‘out’ lap from the pits towards the top of Eau Rouge, with Miguel Molina in the sister scarlet machine subsequently glancing the Blanchimont barriers but fortunately escaping major damage.

In the #51, Alessandro Pier Guidi then had a minor coming-together with the #46 BMW LMGT3 entry at the end of FP3 this morning, but in qualifying, everything came together for Ferrari, with the Italian manufacturer’s 100 per cent pole position record this year priming it to extend its early advantage on race day.

Belgium’s Stoffel Vandoorne kept the home crowd happy as he qualified a season-best fourth in Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ #94 9X8 Hypercar, three places ahead of the #93 Peugeot piloted by Jean-Éric Vergne.

Alex Lynn maintained Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s encouraging 2025 form in fifth, with Mick Schumacher sixth for Alpine Endurance Team for the second consecutive event. Robin Frijns wound up eighth in the only BMW M Team WRT Hypercar to advance to Hyperpole, as Charles Milesi and Earl Bamber completed the top ten for Alpine and Cadillac respectively.

It was a disappointing session, by contrast, for the reigning world champions, with Porsche Penske Motorsport able to manage no better than 12th and 13th and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing a lowly 15th and 16th in the 18-car field.

Gerhsitz grabs milestone maiden pole for Lexus

Akkodis ASP Team has been threatening a breakthrough performance all season with its pair of Lexus RC F LMGT3 cars, and in Belgium today, the Jérôme Policand-led outfit delivered on its promise, building upon a maiden podium finish at Imola with an historic pole position at Spa – the first for both team and manufacturer.

The man behind the wheel, 20-year-old Finn Gerhsitz, is an FIA WEC rookie – and fast making a name for himself in the world’s premier endurance racing championship. The German lapped just under three tenths-of-a-second quicker than fellow series newcomer Eduardo Barrichello in Racing Spirit of Léman’s Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3, which will duly share the front row.

“My experience is not that high compared to many other drivers here,” acknowledged Gehrsitz, “but preparation was definitely the key and I think the result was down to the perfect combination of car, team and drivers. I didn’t expect this so early, but I’m super-happy to be on pole and to see how we are getting better from race-to-race.”

Row two will be made up of Proton Competition’s two Ford Mustangs, with the VISTA AF Corse Ferraris sandwiching the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin in fifth, sixth and seventh.

The TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps will begin at 14:00 CEST tomorrow, 10 May.