The final two free practice sessions ahead of the FIA World Endurance Championship qualifying at Spa Francorchamps happened in quite a calm fashion.
The Hypercar category is getting more and more up to speed, with Alpine Elf Matmut #36 with Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre, and Matthieu Vaxiviere overall fastest in the morning session, ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing #8 with Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley, while Toyota #7 with Jose Maria Lopez, Mike Conway, and Kamui Kobayashi was the third fastest in the top category.
The afternoon practice saw #7 ahead of #8 with #36 a bit further down the field.
Photo: JJ Media
United Autosports USA #22 with Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque, and Fabio Scherer was once again the fastest LMP2 car – actually in both sessions. While G-Drive Racing #26 with Roman Rusinov, Franco Colapinto, and Nyck de Vries was second fastest in FP2, while the sister car #25 with John Falb, Roberto Merhi, Rui Andrade took P2 in FP3, while Inter Europol Competition #34 with Kuba Smiechowski, Renger van der Zande and Alex Brundle was P3 in FP2, and #26 P3 in FP3.
Photo: JJ Media
AF Corse Ferrari #51 with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi was fastest amongst the GTE Pro cars, for the first time, in FP2. They were followed by Porsche #91 with Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz, while AF Corse Ferrari #52 with Daniel Serra and Miguel Molina were the third fastest in the morning session. In FP3 we had Porsche #92 with Kevin Estre and Neel Jani fastest, ahead of #91 and #52.
Photo: JJ Media
The GTE Am category is still dominated by Porsche racers. Dempsey-Proton Racing #77 with Christian Ried, Jaxon Evans, and Matt Campbell was fastest in FP2, ahead of AF Corse Ferrari #54 with Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, and Giancarlo Fisichella, while Iron Lynx Ferrari #60 with Claudio Schiavoni, Andrea Piccini, and Matteo Cressoni was third fastest. FP3 saw Team Project 1 Porsche #56 back on top with Egidio Perfetti, Riccardo Pera, and Matteo Cairoli, just like they have been in so many other sessions this week. #77 was second fastest, while AF Corse Ferrari #83 with Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera, and Nicklas Nielsen was P3.
Photo: JJ Media
Realteam Racing #70 had a brush with the armco in FP2, but that only required a nose change. Corvette Racing #63 had a few electrical issues in FP2, but still got a lot of laps done during the day.
The teams have just over three hours of preparation ahead of the Qualifying at 18.20 CET today. The Qualifying can be followed on live video stream at Fiawec.com, or as audio-only at Radiolemans.com
