Ferrari denies BMW maiden pole in WEC opener 

The first Hypercar pole for the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship at the Qatar 1812 km has been snapped up by the #51 Ferrari 499P, denying BMW its maiden top-spot with a last gasp lap.

Antonio Giovinazzi, the 2023 Le Mans winner, put down a last gasp 1m38.359s to steal the top spot from Dries Vanthoor in the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, which would have been the Bavarian manufacturer’s first pole award.

“Everybody in the team has done a fantastic job working to improve the car, and to be on pole is a great achievement,” the Italian star stated.

 “I was surprised by how much the wind changed at the start of the session and how tricky that made it, but everything came together at the end. I gave it my all in the final sector – I was on the limit – and to take pole on the last lap was really cool.

Giovinazzi’s last ditch effort gave the Ferrari 499P first blood in the WEC

“It will be a long, intense race tomorrow and we will need to be smart and make sure we make the right decisions, but we are starting from a good position and I think we have the car and the team to score some good points.”

Last season, only one Hypercar won from pole position.

Third was also taken by the #50 Ferrari (last year’s Le Mans winning machine), with a strong Antonio Fuoco lap actually being denied by his teammate in typically chaotic Ferrari fashion.

They’ll start next to another machine that was fast in the lead up prologue, the JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R.

The defending drivers champion Penske Porsche team astoundingly didn’t make the top-ten Hyperpole session, finishing 11th and 13th, with Aussie Matt Campbell starting in the latter spot in last year’s title winning #6 963.

For Aston Martin’s first ever Hypercar qualification, it too failed to make Hyperpole, finishing 16th and 18th in its #007 and #009 Valkyries.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie’s will be playing catch up throughout 2025: Image LAT

In the LMGT3, it was the United Autosports McLaren team that took the pole in the #95 720S GT3 Evo, its seconds straight in the series, with Indonesian ace Sean Gelael proudly behind the wheel.

The race kicks off at 11pm AEDT today.

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