WEC News: BMW’s Vanthoor tops Friday practice in Fuji
BMW M Team WRT’s #15 M Hybrid V8 driven by Dries Vanthoor set the pace in the second Free Practice session of the WEC weekend in Fuji this afternoon.
Dries Vanthoor was the hot shoe for the team in the session, setting a 1:29.577 early in the running as part of a flurry of times which saw three cars complete laps under 1:30 for the first time this week.
Vanthoor’s 1:29.577 was almost a full second quicker than the best time set in Free Practice 1 earlier in the day by the #6 factory Porsche, but just nine thousandths up on the #5 Porsche that slotted in second with a time from Matt Campbell during the second session.
Adding to the encouraging session for BMW was a late long-run from Raffaele Marciello, who completed a series of fast laps in the #15 with Medium tires on the front and hards on the rear, as the team works towards nailing in a set up for the race.
Completing the top five was the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, #83 AF Corse Ferrari and #8 Toyota, all three lapping within three and a half tenths of the #15 BMW.
In LMGT3 the running order was also significantly different from FP1 too, with the Vista AF Corse finding speed. Alessio Rovera put the #55 Ferrari atop the times with a 1:40.851.
PORSCHE ON TOP IN THE OPENING SESSION
In Free Practice 1, the #6 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar, driven by Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and André Lotterer, set the fastest lap with a time of 1:30.561, courtesy of Vanthoor. The trio, currently leading the championship, were a mere 0.010s ahead of the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid, piloted by Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryō Hirakawa.
The two leading cars were the only ones to break into the 1:30s bracket. Third place went to the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, with Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco, and Nicklas Nielsen clocking a 1:31.104 lap.
In the LMGT3 category, United Autosports McLaren led the session. Joshua Caygill, Marino Sato, and Nico Pino in the #95 car set the fastest time of 1:40.528 matched down to the thousandth of a second by the #55 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari, driven by Alessio Rovera. Davide Rigon in the sister VISTA AF Corse Ferrari completed the top three in class with a time of 1:40.793.