Just a few hours earlier, Robert Kubica gave Polish fans reasons to be very optimistic. The AF Corse driver achieved the second fastest training time at Spa-Francorchamps and looked like one of the candidates for pole position. However, qualifying for the 6-hour WEC race in Belgium turned out to be a huge disappointment for the Pole. The Ferrari No. 83 crew was eliminated after the first part of the session and on Saturday they will start almost from the back of the grid.

Robert Kubica experienced a scenario similar to Imola again

For fans following AF Corse’s actions, the situation at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium may have looked very familiar. Already during the race weekend at Imola, Ferrari showed great pace in training and tests, but when it came to fighting for starting positions, the results turned out to be much weaker than expected.

This time, history practically repeated itself. Robert Kubica showed a very competitive pace from the very morning and finished the training with the second result. The Italian team looked strong not only thanks to the Pole, but also to the other Ferrari crews. It seemed that the fight for the top positions in the qualifications was a realistic scenario. However, the reality turned out to be completely different.

Qualifying did not go according to AF Corse’s expectations

The biggest problem appeared already in the first part of qualifying. Kubica’s time was 2:01.777, which gave him only thirteenth place. This result is definitely below expectations, especially after previous training.

Only the ten fastest crews advanced to Hyperpole, the decisive part of the qualification. Ferrari number 83 was outside this group, which meant that the Pole prematurely ended his participation in the fight for a high starting position. In practice, this means that in Saturday’s race AF Corse will have to fight its way through the field almost from the bottom, because there are currently seventeen cars competing in the Hypercar category.

This is a very difficult situation, especially on the Spa-Francorchamps track, where the right starting position is often of great importance for strategy and control of the race.

Ferrari dominated in practice, but failed at the most important moment

The disappointment on the part of Ferrari is even greater if you look more broadly at the results of the entire manufacturer from Maranello. The Italian cars looked very strong for most of the weekend, but qualifying brutally verified these predictions.

Only one Ferrari car advanced to Hyperpole. Crew number 50, led by Antonio Fuoco, set a time of 2:01.117, which resulted in eighth place in the decisive session.

Ferrari number 51 fared even worse. Antonio Giovinazzi did not manage to advance to the second part of qualifying and with a result of 2:01.848 he placed only fifteenth. So he was slower even than Kubica, who himself had no reason to be satisfied.

Such a poor performance by Ferrari may be one of the biggest surprises of the entire Friday. Even before qualifying, many observers pointed to Italian cars as one of the main favorites to fight for pole position.

Sensational pole position for Peugeot

The qualifications ended with a great success for Peugeot. The French manufacturer unexpectedly achieved the best time thanks to crew number 94.

The best lap was set by Malthe Jakobsen, who achieved a result of 2:00.653. It was this result that gave Peugeot first place at the start of Saturday’s race.

The Hyperpole headlamp was extremely tight. Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA took second place, only 0.043 seconds behind, and Alpine Endurance Team third, 0.078 seconds behind. The top ten also included two Aston Martins, a second Peugeot and a BMW M Team WRT.

Kubica faces a very difficult task

Saturday’s 6h Spa-Francorchamps race will start at 2:00 p.m. and for Kubica it promises to be one of the most difficult competitions of this WEC season. Ferrari’s race pace may still be strong, but starting from thirteenth position means having to aggressively make up ground from the very first laps.

This is why qualifying in endurance races is so important. Even a very fast car may later lose time in traffic and have problems implementing the optimal strategy.

However, Polish fans can count on AF Corse to show strong pace again in racing conditions. Ferrari has already proven that it can make up for losses, although this time the scale of the task will be exceptionally large.