Aston Martin qualifying pace "didn't make sense" - Makowiecki
Fred Makowiecki said Aston Martin’s pace decline in Friday’s Hyperpole qualifying session for the Le Mans 24 Hours “didn’t make sense” after it had topped qualifying practice on Thursday.

Makowiecki’s teammate in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 Gianmaria Bruni took pole position in the GTE Pro class with a time 0.002s slower than Marco Sorensen had managed in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage the previous day, making it the only class in which the fastest time of the weekend to date was not set during the Hyperpole session.
Bruni improved on his 3m50.874s by 0.06s, but had his time deleted for track limits.
James Calado was second quickest in the #71 Ferrari after his first effort was also deleted for track limits at the Porsche Curves, while Sorensen and teammate Alex Lynn claimed third and fourth with times slower than they managed in qualifying practice.
Read Also:
When asked by Motorsport.com if he thought its rivals had shown their true pace in qualifying, Makowiecki said: “Our performance has been getting quicker and quicker.
“When you see Aston, they are three to four tenths off compared to the quali time, it doesn’t make sense when the track is cooler and you have more power, more downforce and also the track condition improved a little bit. This surprised me a little bit.”
He added: “From our side, we arrive with not so much experience, it’s a new car, we know where we are stronger or where we need to improve.
“But in the end they are with the same car, with everything the same, they are very significantly slower than last year.”
Aston Martin Racing head of performance Gustavo Beteli told Motorsport.com that the team "made the wrong tyre choice for the conditions”.
Calado set the best Ferrari lap of the weekend in Hyperpole and told Motorsport.com that he had “pretty much maximised what the car has got to offer”.
“In quali we gave everything that we have and that was the maximum we could do today,” he said. “We don’t know what the others are doing but this is where we are.”
Fellow Ferrari driver Sam Bird, who qualified fifth, said the lack of a test day had meant the track was still “quite dirty and dusty in comparison to previous years”, which contributed to the slower times than in 2019.
“I think last year I did a low ’49 in qualifying so I was thinking ‘we’re going to be matching that kind of pace again’ but the track is just nowhere near what it was,” Bird told Motorsport.com.
“It’s been a bit tricky to extract the maximum out of the car, we weren’t really sure where to go with the set-up due to the different kind of conditions that we’ve been hit with, but we seem to have found a decent pace.”

Previous article
Le Mans 24h: Buemi and Toyota top damp warm-up
Next article
Buemi wary of "dangerous" amateurs, wet conditions

About this article
Series | Le Mans |
Event | 24 Hours of Le Mans |
Author | James Newbold |
Aston Martin qualifying pace "didn't make sense" - Makowiecki
Trending
Why Ferrari is ending its 50-year top-flight sportscar racing exile
Making a return to top-flight sportscar racing after 50 years away, Ferrari will enter the Le Mans Hypercar ranks in 2023. The Italian marque denies the link with Formula 1's new cost cap that frees up resources, but it's certainly no coincidence...
Oliver Gavin's Corvette Racing highlights
Oliver Gavin has stepped down from the full-time Corvette Racing line-up after a stellar career with the team spanning nearly 20 years. He looks back on a stint that encompassed, among other successes, five Le Mans 24 Hours victories.
How Tandy joined an exclusive club of endurance legends
Victory at last year's Spa 24 Hours meant Nick Tandy had completed the unofficial sextuple crown of the world's six biggest endurance races, becoming the first Briton to do so. Ahead of his fresh start with Corvette Racing, he explains how he did it…
The cherished curios kept by motorsport's professionals at home
Keeping trophies and momentos of key triumphs is par for the course for motorsport professionals, but what are the most cherished souvenirs picked up by the drivers and engineers who have seen and done it all?
The Porsche icon that forged sportscar racing's greatest era
Porsche is returning to the top class of Le Mans with an LMDh prototype that it hopes will write its next successful chapter in sportscar racing. But it will have to go some to emulate its 956/962, a car which defines the Group C age more than any other.
How Tom Kristensen forged his ‘Mr Le Mans’ legend
He is synonymous with success at the Circuit de la Sarthe, but Tom Kristensen's sportscar legacy amounts to much more than his record-breaking nine Le Mans wins, as the most successful driver ever at Sebring and a world champion to boot…
Why Audi’s shock return promises a new age for sportscars
OPINION: The news that Audi will return to Le Mans means we'll at last get to see the fight promised in 2012 against Peugeot and Toyota. It also gives LMDh a tangible form, which could open the floodgates for more like-minded marques to follow suit…
The eternal debate revived after the 2019/20 WEC season
It may have been missed amid the clamour over Lewis Hamilton's seventh F1 title, but Britain had another world champion crowned last weekend. Mike Conway's WEC crown raises an old conundrum - does title glory make up for the pain of Le Mans defeat?