WEC | Prologue, Session 2: Porsche-Ferrari ok, Toyota turns a lot

The night has now enveloped Lusail and the second Prologue Session which the protagonists of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship exploited very well in the 5 hours available is also on the table.

There were just five interruptions, not too long by the way, with a Virtual Safety Car and a Safety Car combined with three red flags; these were waved due to the off-track exits of Thomas Flohr in the AF Corse Ferrari 296 #54 after a few minutes and Harry Tincknell in the Proton Competition Porsche 963 #99.

Finally, a couple of cats also entered the track near turn 10, forcing the commissioners to stop operations to recover the poor animals.

The fact is that all the teams tried to put together as many laps as possible by alternating their three drivers and at the head of the Hypercar Class we see the LMDh cars lock horns against the Ferraris.

Jota's Porsche #12 gets the reference time in 1'40″541 thanks to Callum Ilott, who is in the crew with Stevens/Nato, while his teammate Jenson Button is third in the #38 shared with Rasmussen/Hanson.

The 499P #50 squeezes in between the two 963s with the best time set by Antonio Fuoco, just over a tenth from the leader, while the #51 of Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi finishes fourth, +0″4 from the top.

Top5 for the Cadillac of Bamber/Lynn/Bourdais, while almost 1″ from the top is the Ferrari #83 of AF Corse, followed by the Peugeot #93, the Porsche #5 of Team Penske and the BMW #15 of Team WRT in a nice alternation of brands.

As mentioned, the hunt for the best time was not actually carried out decisively and going down we find the Toyotas in 13th and 16th place, but with 138 and 127 passes combined, which is the highest number in the category.

The GR010 Hybrids find the Porsche #99 of Proton and the Lamborghini #63 of Iron Lynx in the middle, lapping in 1'42″6, with the Alpines behind the Japanese.

Bringing up the rear is the Isotta Fraschini, which used these tests profitably to collect data with the new lightened bodywork never tested before, but above all giving the opportunity to Antonio Serravalle and Carl Bennett to carry out the first laps with the Tipo 6 LMH- C #11 prepared by Team Duqueine, following the instructions of their captain, Jean-Karl Vernay.

#59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa, Gregoire Saucy

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

In the LMGT3 Class, the United Autoports McLaren #59 took the lead almost immediately and never left there; 1'54″480 is the reference time obtained by Grégoire Saucy, a few hundredths better than Davide Rigon armed with the Ferrari 296 #54 of AF Corse, followed closely by the Lexus #87 of the Akkodis-ASP team.

Here too there is a variety of brands in the top places because the Aston Martin #27 of Heart of Racing and the Corvette #82 of TF Sport finish in the Top5 with a couple of tenths of a second behind.

The best of the Lamborghini Huracans is the #60 of Iron Lynx in eighth, the #85 of the Iron Dames places tenth by just under 1″; the Toro cars are separated by the Ferrari #55 of AF Corse.

The #31 and #46 WRT BMWs are in 12th and 13th place: Valentino Rossi completed 35 laps with his personal best time of 1'56″552, almost 1″ from the reference time of the team signed by Maxime Martin.

Further back, the Porsches of Manthey EMA and Pure Rxcing, intent on lapping a lot without trying to attack the record as admitted by the two teams, and the Ford Mustangs of Proton Competition which had a few too many problems, the same applies to the United's McLaren #95 which only put together 28 laps.

Now everyone goes to sleep and the Prologue continues on Tuesday morning with Session 3 scheduled from 8:00 to 11:00 Italian time.

Session 4 will run from 12pm to 3pm and will be reserved only for teams who did not shoot in Session 1 on Monday.

FIA WEC – Prologue: Session 2