Ferrari has been disqualified from pole for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after its No. 50 car was found to be underweight following Friday’s qualifying.
Antonio Fuoco had scored his second consecutive pole at the wheel of the Ferrari 499P he shares with Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina, beating the Penske Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell by 0.507 seconds in Hyperpole.
But a stewards’ report released on Friday evening revealed that the pole-winning car was found not to have complied with the minimum weight regulations.
The post-qualifying checks determined that the #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P, driven by Antonio Fuoco in Hyperpole, was found not to comply with the minimum weight. As such it was disqualified losing its pole position and will start the race from the back of the Hypercar grid.
The official stewards’ bulletin read: “After having checked the Technical Delegate report, the Stewards considered the minimum car weight did not comply with the relevant regulations.
“Consequently, the Stewards decided to impose the disqualification of car 50 of the qualifying and Hyperpole sessions and the deletion of the lap time of these sessions.”
The penalty is the disqualification from qualifying, with all lap times set by Fuoco in both Hyperpole and first qualifying deleted.
As such, the No. 5 Porsche of Campbell, Frederic Makowiecki and Michael Christensen is now promoted to pole position, ahead of the Cadillac V-Series.R shared by Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber and the Proton Competition Porsche of Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer.
Notably, the Penske organization scores its 100th pole in sports car racing as a result.
Ferrari’s top representative on the grid is now the third-string No. 83 AF Corse car, which is promoted to eighth and the team responded to the news.
Their statement read: “Following post-qualifying and Hyperpole scrutineering at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the Ferrari 499P number 50 was found to be around 1 kg under the minimum weight mandated by regulations.
“After a collision with another car during FP3, the 499P number 50’s damaged rear end had to be replaced with a new component, which led to the weight discrepancy discovered on Friday evening.”
Meanwhile in LMGT3, United Autosports Lost Front Row Grid Spot after the No. 95 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo was disqualified for a similar infringement.
Josh Caygill had put the No. 95 McLaren on the front row behind class polesitter Sarah Bovy, but the car was found not only to be underweight but also to have an incorrect weight distribution in post-qualifying checks.
It means the car Caygill shares with Nico Pino and Marino Sato goes to the very back of the grid.
In a statement, United Autosports wrote that the No. 95 car was unintentionally non-compliant with weight regulations.
“We accept the findings of the FIA and ACO and will investigate fully,” the American squad said in a statement.
The WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin and Ahmad Al Harthy is promoted to a spot on the front row, while the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring and Richard Lietz inherits third.
