Keeping things numerical, it’s #7 from #8 as Toyota top FP3
Kobayashi flew to the top of free practice three, giving the #7 Toyota a time more than two seconds clear of the sister car. G-Drive finished quickest in LMP2, with Dempsey-Proton Competition running best in GTE Am. Porsche broke Aston Martin’s streak, as Bruni took the #91 to the top of the board.
Spa is truly showing its changeable nature this weekend, as we experienced a dry session for FP3 - a big difference from the end of yesterday. The lack of precipitation meant the times tumbled and Kamui Kobayashi brought the #7 Toyota into the 1:54s. The sister car sits behind them in the times, with a 1:56.351 for the trio of Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi.
It’s a bit of a Noah’s ark situation in LMP1 it seems. Behind the two Toyotas, are the two SMPs, and the pair of Rebellions. For SMP it’s again #17 ahead of #11, thanks to a 1:56.842 from Egor Orudzhev, Sergey Sirotkin and Stephane Sarrazin. In the Rebellion camp, things are a bit more numerical as the #1 finished ahead of the #3. Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and Bruno Senna managed a 1:57.819 - more than two seconds ahead of the second car. ByKolles again find themselves at the bottom of the LMP1 (and LMP2) heap with a 2:05.697 - not ideal for the Austrian team.
G-Drive put in the fastest time for LMP2. Jean-Eric Vergne brought a 2:01.143 out of the Aurus, putting them ahead of the two Jackie Chan DC Racing entries. The #37 in the hands of Jordan King, David Heinemeier Hansson and Will Stevens was the only other LMP2 to break into the 2:01s. Behind the #38, was the Dragonspeed in fourth, and TDS Racing in fifth. Finally, the Dallara of Racing Team Nederland, the #36 Signatech Alpine and Larbre Competition’s #50 Ligier round out the LMP2 order.
A tale of two teams in GTE Pro as Porsche and Ford banished Aston Martin from the top four. Towards the end of the session, Gianmaria Bruni clocked a 2:13.722, bringing the #91 Porsche to the top of the times. Sitting in second is the #67 Ford of Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx. It looked like Ford were going to clinch this session, until Bruni threw down his gauntlet. The second Porsche and Ford sit third and fourth, ahead of the two AF Corse Ferraris. Aston Martin managed to finish with their cars in seventh and ninth, with the BMWs in eighth and tenth in class.
In GTE Am, Dempsey-Proton took the top spots, and split the GTE Pro field in the process. The #88 squad of Gianluca Roda, Giorgio Roda and Matteo Cairoli put in a 2:15.190, just 41 hundredths of a second behind the #95 Aston Martin. The #77 was a mere two tenths slower, but that was still enough to finish ahead of the #81 BMW M8 GTE. Third fastest in GTE Am went the way of Team Project 1 - another good showing for the Am Porsche teams.
Photo Credit: Photo Copyright 2019 Joao Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com/WEC
Originally posted on Overtake Motorsport, shared with author’s permission.
