Alpine won at Sebring and the LMP2s have led the first two free sessions at Spa. An anomaly that Toyota Gazoo Racing nipped in the bud before qualifying at the Belgian circuit. In fact, Kamui Kobayashi’s #7 Toyota has set the pace on the timesheets thanks to the 2:03.225 registered by the Japanese pilot. Brendon Hartley took the #8 Toyota to second position, although the New Zealander finished two tenths behind his team-mate. Prema’s #9 Oreca has been the strongest LMP2 on track.
Team WRT and Penske led the LMP2 rebellion in the first two free sessions, with permission from United Autosports and Prema. Nevertheless, none of the LMP2 of these four teams has been able to with the Toyota GR010 Hybrid in FP3. Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota took the lead with a time of 2:03.225. Two tenths behind Brendon Hartley was left with #8. The Alpine #36 was fourth, while the Glickenhaus #708 has finished 15th, weighed down by an exit from the track by Pipo Derani in the early stages of the session.
Nevertheless, Prema’s #9 Oreca managed to slip between the Toyota and Alpine hypercars by finishing third from the hand of Louis Deletraz. For its part, the #31 Oreca of the WRT Team was fifth overall thanks to the best lap by Robin Frijns, who dominated FP1 with the Belgian team’s LMP2. Within the silver category, the #22 United Autosports Oreca in which Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Will Owen compete finished in third place. Up to eleven LMP2 finished this time ahead of the Glickenhaus #708.
Prototypes aside, Porsche continues to set the pace in LMGTE-Pro. In the case of FP3, Kévin Estre’s #92 Porsche was the reference GTE thanks to the 2:13.102 set by the French driver. Gianmaria Bruni has stayed more than four tenths behind his brand partner with the #91, although he has signed a sufficient record to surpass the Ferrari #51 and #52, in the hands of James Calado and Antonio Fuoco in their fastest laps . The Corvette #64 has been fifth, finally above the best GTEs in the amateur class.
An LMGTE-Am category in which the Porsche #46 has once again been the fastest, although this time it was not thanks to the performance of Matteo Cairoli. In fact, the 2:15.351 that appears in the time table has been from Mikkel Pedersen. At more than six tenths he finished Harry Tincknell’s #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche. For its part, TF Sport’s #33 Aston Martin has completed the ‘top 3’ of the category with Marco Sorensen at the wheel. There have been no noteworthy incidents in the session.
Photos: Toyota Gazoo Racing