WEC News: Ferrari and Porsche split top times at Spa Friday

Ferrari and Porsche topped the first and second practice sessions Friday for the World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa weekend

Ferrari Sets The Pace In Opening Spa Practice

The two factory Ferrari 499Ps set the pace in the first practice session of the FIA WEC weekend in Spa this afternoon, with the #50 ending up over a second clear of the rest of the field following a flying lap from Antonio Fuoco.

Fuoco’s time, a 2:05.690, is way off last year’s pole time of 2:00.812 from Toyota. It was, however, 1.1 seconds faster than Antonio Giovanazzi in the #51 sister car and 1.3 seconds up on the Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63, which set a highly encouraging 2:06.998 to go third overall and quickest of the LMDh cars in the field.

The top five at Spa were completed by Alpine’s #36 and the #83 AF Corse 499P, which was the fastest car entered in the Hypercar World Cup for privately funded entries.

Proton’s #99 963 was the fastest Porsche in sixth ahead of the championship-leading #6 factory Porsche from Penske that slotted in seventh.

In LMGT3, TF Sport topped the times with its #82 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R after Daniel Juncadella reeled off a 2:20.885. The field looks well balanced at this stage, with six of the nine manufacturers setting times in the top six at Spa.

Porsche Tops FP2

Porsche’s championship-leading #6 963 set the quickest lap time in Free Practice 2 for the FIA WEC runners at Spa this afternoon, with Kevin Estre setting a 2:04.162 to go a tenth clear at the top.

The times, as expected, are tumbling somewhat in Hypercar as the track rubbers in and teams improve their base setup. For comparison, the fastest time at Spa came from Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco in the first session, a 2:05.690. This was a time bettered by the top eight in Hypercar in the second session.

The #50 Ferrari that topped FP1 ended up second, with a 2:04.283. The Cadillac Racing V-Series.R also came within two-tenths of Estre, while the #7 Toyota and #12 JOTA Porsche all set times in the 2:04s to.

Further down the list, after finishing up third in FP1 the Lamborghini SC63 toured the circuit in 2:06.107, and ended up 11th. The fastest new Peugeot ended up ninth, with the quickest WRT BMW 15th.

In LMGT3, the fastest time didn’t eclipse the best lap from FP1 at Spa– a 2:20.885 from Daniel Juncadella in the #82 TF Sport Corvette.