Porsche continues to dictate the law in Lusail, where the protagonists of the FIA World Endurance Championship also completed Free Practice 2 in preparation for the 1812 Km of Qatar on Saturday.
The domination of the 963s continues even after sunset, with the teams trying to complete the work in view of the race by first aiming to do some fast laps, and then concentrate on the long-distance pace given that in a couple of days in these Now we will enter the crucial stages of the first round of 2024.
The 90 minutes were interrupted three times. A first red flag was shown for the Isotta Fraschini going off the track in turn 6, with Jean-Karl Vernay at the wheel at the time; the spin probably scratched the gearbox couplings through vibrations or movement in the reverse direction of travel, so when the Frenchman was pulled out of the escape route he limped back into the pits as the gears did not remain engaged.
At the end, a Full Course Yellow was necessary to remove debris in turn 14 and also Mirko Bortolotti's Lamborghini SC63, KO in turn 7.
#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Loic Duval, Stoffel Vandoorne, #11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C: Antonio Serravalle, Carl Wattana Bennett, Jean-Karl Vernay
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
At that moment Kévin Estre had already put the Porsche #6 ahead of everyone for some time, breaking the 1'40″ barrier for the first time; the Frenchman from Team Penske clocked a 1'39″990 already at the start of practice, to then focus on the step together with your colleagues.
Among the various Porsches are Peugeot and Cadillac. Good second performance for the 9X8 #93 which is 0.7″ from the top, while the V-Series.R finishes fourth confirming itself among the fittest models at the moment.
Third time instead for Jota's Porsche #38, on the #12 there were technical problems that kept it in the pits for a long time, finishing with only 10 laps under its belt and the sixth fastest time (+1″3), behind the 963 official #5.
The best Ferrari is once again the #51, seventh at 1″4 and lapping 31 times; the other 499Ps are in tenth (#83 by AF Corse) and eleventh place (#50), with 39 laps combined by both .
Finally, in the Top10 we have the Toyota #7 and the Peugeot #94, the Lamborghini #63 of Iron Lynx before the stop had placed 12th with 33 laps, followed by Toyota #8, Alpine #36 and BMW #20.
Finally, Isotta remained at the back without being able to return to action and with just 4 passes completed, which will not help Duqueine and Michelotto's men gain further experience on their debut weekend.
#55 View AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: François Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera
Photo by: Erik Junius
In the LMGT3 Class there was a Ferrari one-two with the 296 of Vista AF Corse in front right from the start; the #55 is in the lead with the 1'55″190 set by Simon Mann, followed by a couple of tenths of a second by its sister car #54.
Very short ranking with 13 cars in 1″, most with over 30 laps completed. The BMW #31 of WRT did well, climbing into third position, barely keeping the Aston Martin #777 of D'Station Racing, the McLaren #95 of United Autosports and a finally competitive Ford Mustang #88 of Proton Competiton at +0″482.
The Aston Martin #27 of Heart Of Racing is seventh and among the least active (21 laps), then we find the McLaren #59 of United and Valentino Rossi, who at the wheel of the BMW #46 of WRT is 0.6″ from the top after 15 laps completed, before giving way to his teammates.
The Corvettes #82 and #81 of TF Sport finished in tenth and eleventh place, the Porsche #92 of Manthey Pure Rxcing was 12th, the Lexus #78 of Akkodis-ASP followed and first of the cars within 1″ of the record.
The Lamborghini #60 of Iron Lynx and #85 of the Iron Dames remain behind, 15th and 16th dividing the Porsche #91 of Manthey EMA (14th) and the Lexus #87, bringing up the rear together with the Mustang #77 of Proton with only 16 come back done.
Free Practice 3 will take place on Friday at 9:00 am Italian time, lasting 60 minutes, while Qualifying with the new format is scheduled to start from 2:00 pm.
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