Lopez tops timesheets for Toyota; Aston Martin on top in LMGTE Pro

#7 Toyota quickest in practice 2
#7 Toyota quickest in practice 2

Jose Maria Lopez led a 1-2 for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Wednesday evening practice for this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship race at Sebring.

The Argentinian’s time of 1:41.730 in the second 90-minute session put the No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid on top of the timing sheets.

Fernando Alonso set the No. 8 car’s quickest time during the night running after recovering from a harmless spin in Turn 1 early in his stint, with the two-time Formula 1 champion’s late 1:42.262 around half a second shy of Lopez.

Behind the Toyotas, SMP Racing’s two BR Engineering BR1 AERs out-paced the pair of Rebellion R13 Gibsons, with Stephane Sarrazin and Brendon Hartley setting the best times in the Russian-entered prototypes.

In GTE-Pro, Aston Martin Racing’s new-generation Vantage GTE with Alex Lynn setting the best time of the evening session.

Lynn posted a time of 1:57.592 which has become the new fastest of the weekend, putting the No. 97 Aston 0.033 seconds clear of the No. 67 Ford GT in second.

LMP2 was led by the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07 Gibson with Stephane Richelmi at the helm, while Ben Barker paced the GTE-Am field in the Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR.

A third Free Practice session is scheduled to take place on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. EST (8:15 p.m. GMT).

Toyota Quotes

Mike Conway (TS050 HYBRID #7): “It was okay today; we were adapting to the circuit conditions and getting the car dialled in during the night. It felt okay but there was a lot of traffic so I didn’t get any clear laps. Still, that’s all good learning for the race. It’s more wild here at night because the circuit is quite narrow and when cars drop a wheel off the track there is so much dust. It will look good on the onboard camera!"

Kamui Kobayashi (TS050 HYBRID #7): “We were well-prepared following our tests so the first day of practice went well. We faced different track conditions, with more cars out there and different categories running earlier in the day. So we need to adapt as the conditions change. It’s a good start but we will be working hard to find more performance for the rest of the event."

Jose María Lopez (TS050 HYBRID #7): “It went well today. I am getting used to the track and I felt comfortable. There was more traffic today and the track is dirtier so it was nearly impossible to get clean laps. The circuit has changed a lot compared to a few weeks ago. I am trying to get a good feeling with the car and get prepared for the race, which is the most important thing."

Alonso gets in the #8 Toyota
Alonso gets in the #8 Toyota

Sebastien Buemi (TS050 HYBRID #8): “I did a lot of laps today. I missed the weekend test so it was important to do a lot of running and I am happy with how it went. It’s totally different to our test last month; there is so much more traffic. I got some night running which was important because here that is very difficult; it’s very dark and therefore tricky to drive in the night. We will analyse the data and hopefully improve our set-up."

Kazuki Nakajima (TS050 HYBRID #8): “It was difficult today because the conditions were quite different to our test at the weekend due to the wind direction change and other things. At least we had a productive day with two clean sessions. The most important point was the night session. You can never have enough running in this situation but we have some experience now for qualifying and the race."

Fernando Alonso (TS050 HYBRID #8): “Obviously with a lot more cars on track the traffic was a lot heavier than during our test, and on top of that the track conditions were different so we worked on fine-tuning the set-up. It was another positive and trouble-free day; I am happy with that. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow when the real competitive action starts."

Practice 2 Results

Pos No. Drivers Car Cl Time Behind Gap
1 7 M. Conway/K. Kobayashi/J. Lopez Toyota TS050 – Hybrid LMP1 H 1:41.730 +0.000s +0.000s
2 8 S. Buemi/K. Nakajima/F. Alonso Toyota TS050 – Hybrid LMP1 H 1:42.262 +0.532 +0.532
3 17 S. Sarrazin/E. Orudzhev/S. Sirotkin BR Engineering BR1 – AER LMP1 1:43.009 +1.279 +0.747
4 11 M. Aleshin/V. Petrov/B. Hartley BR Engineering BR1 – AER LMP1 1:43.019 +1.289 +0.010
5 3 N. Berthon/T. Laurent/G. Menezes Rebellion R13 – Gibson LMP1 1:43.362 +1.632 +0.343
6 1 N. Jani/M. Beche/B. Senna Rebellion R13 – Gibson LMP1 1:44.064 +2.334 +0.702
7 10 H. Hedman/B. Hanley/R. Van Der Zande BR Engineering BR1 – Gib LMP1 1:46.050 +4.320 +1.986
8 38 H. Tung/G. Aubry/S. Richelmi Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 1:47.716 +5.986 +1.666
9 36 N. Lapierre/A. Negrao/P. Thiriet Alpine A470 – Gibson LMP2 1:48.213 +6.483 +0.497
10 28 F. Perrodo/M. Vaxiviere/L. Duval Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 1:48.316 +6.586 +0.103
11 37 D. Heinemeier-Hansson/J. King/W. Stevens Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 1:49.119 +7.389 +0.803
12 50 E. Creed/R. Ricci/G. Jeannette Ligier JSP217 – Gibson LMP2 1:50.463 +8.733 +1.344
13 31 R. Gonzalez/P. Maldonado/A. Davidson Oreca 07 – Gibson LMP2 1:50.497 +8.767 +0.034
14 29 F. Van Eerd/G. Van Der Garde/N. De Vries Dallara P217 Gibson LMP2 1:53.842 +12.112 +3.345
15 97 A. Lynn/M. Martin Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE Pro 1:57.792 +16.062 +3.950
16 67 A. Priaulx/H. Tincknell/J. Bomarito Ford GT LMGTE Pro 1:57.825 +16.095 +0.033
17 66 S. Mücke/O. Pla/B. Johnson Ford GT LMGTE Pro 1:57.961 +16.231 +0.136
18 51 A. Pier Guidi/J. Calado/D. Serra Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE Pro 1:58.063 +16.333 +0.102
19 95 M. Sørensen/N. Thiim/D. Turner Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE Pro 1:58.098 +16.368 +0.035
20 92 M. Christensen/K. Estre Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Pro 1:58.388 +16.658 +0.290
21 91 R. Lietz/G. Bruni Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Pro 1:58.447 +16.717 +0.059
22 71 D. Rigon/S. Bird/M. Molina Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE Pro 1:58.622 +16.892 +0.175
23 82 A. Farfus/A. Da Costa/B. Spengler BMW M8 GTE LMGTE Pro 1:58.706 +16.976 +0.084
24 81 M. Tomczyk/N. Catsburg/A. Sims BMW M8 GTE LMGTE Pro 1:58.731 +17.001 +0.025
25 63 J. Magnussen/A. Garcia/M. Rockenfeller Chevrolet Corvette C7.R LMGTE Pro 1:58.795 +17.065 +0.064
26 86 M. Wainwright/B. Barker/T. Preining Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Am 1:59.327 +17.597 +0.532
27 54 T. Flohr/F. Castellacci/G. Fisichella Ferrari F488 GTE LMGTE Am 1:59.407 +17.677 +0.080
28 88 G. Roda/G. Roda Jr/M. Cairoli Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Am 1:59.457 +17.727 +0.050
29 61 L. Perez-Companc/M. Cressoni/M. Griffin Ferrari F488 GTE LMGTE Am 1:59.549 +17.819 +0.092
30 98 P. Dalla Lana/P. Lamy/M. Lauda Aston Martin Vantage LMGTE Am 1:59.778 +18.048 +0.229
31 70 M. Ishikawa/O. Beretta/E. Cheever Ferrari F488 GTE LMGTE Am 1:59.853 +18.123 +0.075
32 77 C. Ried/J. Andlauer/M. Campbell Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Am 2:00.136 +18.406 +0.283
33 56 J. Bergmeister/P. Lindsey/E. Perfetti Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Am 2:00.156 +18.426 +0.020
34 90 S. Yoluc/J. Adam/C. Eastwood Aston Martin Vantage LMGTE Am 2:00.789 +19.059 +0.633