Porsche Penske Motorsport will start the season opener of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC from rows six and seven. Julien Andlauer drove the eleventh fastest lap in qualifying at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. The Frenchman shares the Porsche 963 with Michael Christensen from Denmark and his compatriot Mathieu Jaminet.

In the second hybrid prototype of the factory team, Kévin Estre set the 13th time. The Frenchman will take part in the upcoming 10-hour race with Belgian Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell from Australia. The 911 GT3 R of the customer teams Manthey 1st Phorm and Iron Dames finished the qualifying in the LMGT3 class in eleventh and 15th positions. The "Qatar 1812km" begins on Friday at 2 p.m. local time (12:00 CET).

The cloud-covered Formula 1 circuit in Qatar was surprisingly cool on Thursday: the air temperature barely reached 16 degrees Celsius during qualifying, and the 5.419-kilometer-long asphalt strip north of the country's capital Doha only heated up to 17.5 degrees. The time trial took place in two rounds in both classes. In the first section, all vehicles in the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories took to the track. In these two sessions, the drivers had twelve minutes to complete a fast lap. The ten best-placed vehicles from both categories then fought for the respective pole positions in the so-called Hyperpole sessions.

Two Frenchmen took the wheel of the Porsche 963 for the Porsche Penske Motorsport factory team: Julien Andlauer in the 508 kW (691 hp) hybrid prototype with the starting number 5, while the reigning drivers' world champion Kévin Estre drove the sister vehicle. Neither of them made it to the next round. Andlauer completed his fastest lap in 1:39.426 minutes. He missed out on tenth place by two tenths of a second. Estre finished the qualifying session in 13th position. His time: 1:40.363 minutes. The Porsche 963 of the customer team Proton Competition with Neel Jani at the wheel finished in 16th place. The Swiss shares the cockpit with the Chilean Nico Pinto and Nico Varrone from Argentina.

"The qualifying result is no surprise. It reflects the results we showed here in the prologue and in the free practice sessions," explains Urs Kuratle, Head of Factory Motorsport LMDh. "We have a very close race ahead of us. We look better over the distance, we can still achieve a lot there. The balance of our Porsche 963 is still right, but the competition has increased significantly over the winter."

"When I think of our result here in Qatar a year ago, starting positions eleven and thirteen are of course disappointing: Back then we took pole position and had an extremely competitive racing car," said Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director of Porsche Penske Motorsport. "Julien Andlauer and Kévin Estre confirmed after qualifying that our Porsche 963s are very easy to drive. We are now concentrating on tomorrow's race. During the prologue and in the practice session this afternoon we were fast over longer stints. Our goal: We want to achieve the best possible result."

LMGT3 class: Porsche 911 GT3 R in the midfield

The qualifying segment of the GT3 racing cars in the FIA WEC is reserved exclusively for the bronze drivers of each team - as is the case with the 911 GT3 R with up to 416 kW (565 hp) and used by Manthey. Célia Martin took to the wheel for the Iron Dames. Ryan Hardwick took to the track for Manthey 1st Phorm. While the Frenchwoman set the 15th fastest time with a lap time of 1:57.156 minutes, the American narrowly missed out on a place in the Hyperpole session: with a time of 1:56.434 minutes, he was only 66 thousandths of a second behind tenth place.

The season opener, entitled "Qatar 1812km", will take place tomorrow Friday from 2:00 p.m. local time (12:00 p.m. CET). The race over a planned 1,812 kilometers will last a maximum of ten hours. Due to the above-average length of the first race of the season, the normal World Championship points will be multiplied by a factor of 1.5 and rounded up. The winner will therefore receive 38 points instead of the usual 25.

Drivers' comments after qualifying

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 963 #5): "Our Porsche 963 actually felt very satisfactory. One or two tenths of a second are perhaps my fault, one or two are the car's fault - but really no more than that. Otherwise, we did well and just missed the Hyperpole, which is the maximum we can achieve at the moment. We should be more competitive in the race and be able to score as many points as possible."

Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): "13th place is a disappointment - we haven't been this far back on the grid for ages. Our Porsche 963 actually ran quite well. My lap may not have been perfect, but it wasn't a major mistake. We've been lacking a bit of performance all week, especially on individual laps, so the result is no big surprise. However, the gap to the competition is a bit bigger than expected. Now we have all night to look at the data and improve the racing car. Over the distance, we look much better."

Neel Jani (Porsche 963 #99): "Last year, Qatar was our most difficult race. This continued into qualifying last week. We completely changed the car's setup and focused more on the race. We were able to improve the performance a little. For us, the motto now is: close your eyes and get through it, take as much as possible with you and learn for the upcoming WEC races."

Célia Martin (Porsche 911 GT3 R #85): "A place in the Hyperpole was a little unrealistic for us today. But I was able to improve further and achieved my goal: a new personal best on this track. Next time we're aiming for a better result."

Ryan Hardwick (Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): "I'm a little disappointed. We wanted to make it into the top 10 and thus into the Hyperpole session, but we narrowly missed that with eleventh place. Although we were able to exploit the car's current potential to the full, we have been lacking top speed on the straights all week compared to the competition. Nevertheless, I'm proud because my lap went well - even if there is of course always room for improvement. The race is long and we are now starting in the middle of the field. I have great confidence in my fellow drivers and our engineers. A top 10 placement at the end of the 10-hour distance is out of the question for me."

Qualifying results

Hypercar class:
1. Giovinazzi/Calado/Pier Guidi (ITA/GBR/ITA), Ferrari #51, 1:38.359 minutes
2. Vanthoor/Marciello/Magnussen (BEL/SUI/DNK), BMW #7, 1:38.495 minutes
3. Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (ITA/ESP/DNK), Ferrari #50, 1:38.692 minutes
11. Andlauer/Christensen/Jaminet (FRA/DNK/FRA), Porsche 963 #5, 1:39.946 minutes
13. Estre/Vanthoor/Campbell (FRA/BEL/AUS), Porsche 963 #6, 1:40.363 minutes
15. Jani/Pino/Varrone (SUI/CHI/ARG), Porsche 963 #99, 1:41.421 minutes

LMGT3 class:
1. Leung/Gelael/Sato (GBR/INA/JPN), McLaren #95, 1:54.239 minutes
2. Cottingham/Baud/Saucy (GBR/FRA/SUI), McLaren #59, 1:54.478 minutes
3. Robin/Gehrsitz/Barnicoat (FRA/GER/GBR), Lexus #78, 1:54.484 minutes
11. Hardwick/Pera/Lietz (USA/ITA/AUT), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 1:56.434 minutes
15. Martin/Frey/Gatting (FRA/SUI/DNK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #85, 1:57.156 minutes