Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

WEC Spa: Toyota locks out top three positions in final practice

Toyota locked out the top three positions in third practice for the World Endurance Championship's Spa round on Friday morning

After leading the way in both Thursday sessions, the Japanese marque's two high-downforce TS050 Hybrids set the pace with laptimes within 0.005s of each other.

The session was delayed by 20 minutes for barrier repairs after an accident in Porsche Carrera Cup France qualifying, but once it began, Kazuki Nakajima and Mike Conway set their best times on their first flying laps in the #8 and #7 cars respectively.

Nakajima led the way with a 1m55.233s, with Conway posting a 1m55.238s to slot into second.

The Le Mans-configuration #9 car jumped ahead of the two Porsches into third place midway through the session, as Toyota returnee Nicolas Lapierre lapped in 1m55.448s.

Andre Lotterer was quickest of the Porsche drivers, with his best time of 1m56.404 putting the #1 919 Hybrid in fourth, 1.171s down on Nakajima's benchmark.

The #2 Porsche of Brendon Hartley was a further 1.7s back in fifth place.

In LMP2, the pace was set by Alex Lynn in the G-Drive Oreca-Gibson, the Briton recording a best time of 2m01.708s to go two tenths clear of Rebellion's Mathias Beche.

The class-winning car from Silverstone, the #38 JOTA Sport-run entry, was third-fastest in the hands of Ho-Pin Tung, more than 1.3s off the pace.

Six LMP2 cars outpaced the sole LMP1 privateer entry, the ByKolles ENSO CLM-Nissan, which was 8.7s off the pace of the hybrids with James Rossiter at the wheel.

Ferrari's pair of AF Corse-run Ferraris led the way in the GTE-Pro category, with Alessandro Pier Guidi putting the #51 488 GTE at the head of the timesheets with a last-minute effort of 2m14.904s.

Sam Bird was just two tenths adrift in the sister #71 car, and some six tenths ahead of Harry Tincknell in the best of the Ford GTs.

The best of the Am-class runners, the #77 Proton Porsche of Matteo Cairoli, was fourth overall among the GTE contingent with a 2m15.893s.

That effort was two tenths faster than Frederic Makowiecki's effort in the best of the Pro-class 911 RSRs, which was fifth in class behind the second of the Fords.

FINAL PRACTICE TIMES:

Pos Class Driver Team Car Gap Laps
1 LMP1 S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m55.233s 27
2 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 0.005s 27
3 LMP1 S.Sarrazin, Y.Kunimoto, N.Lapierre Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 0.215s 28
4 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy Porsche LMP Team Porsche 1.171s 24
5 LMP1 T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley Porsche LMP Team Porsche 2.863s 24
6 LMP2 R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, A.Lynn G-Drive Racing ORECA/Gibson 6.475s 25
7 LMP2 M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 6.737s 22
8 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 8.054s 23
9 LMP2 P.Ragues, A.Negrao, N.Panciatici Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 8.102s 24
10 LMP2 J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 8.121s 19
11 LMP2 T.Graves, J.Hirschi, J-E.Vergne CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 8.457s 22
12 LMP1 O.Webb, D.Kraihamer, J.Rossiter ByKOLLES Racing Team ENSO CLM/NISMO 8.653s 20
13 LMP2 D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 9.030s 23
14 LMP2 R.Dumas, G.Menezes, M.Rao Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 9.037s 25
15 LMP2 N.Moore, P.Hanson, K.Chandhok Tockwith Motorsports Ligier/Gibson 9.163s 23
16 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 9.601s 23
17 LMP2 F.Perrodo, B.Hanley, E.Collard TDS Racing ORECA/Gibson 10.003s 26
18 GTE Pro J.Calado, A.P.Guidi AF Corse Ferrari 19.671s 23
19 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird AF Corse Ferrari 19.867s 21
20 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, P.Derani Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 20.512s 21
21 GTE Am C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 20.660s 22
22 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla, B.Johnson Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 20.748s 22
23 GTE Pro R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki Porsche GT Team Porsche 20.890s 25
24 GTE Pro D.Turner, J.Adam, D.Serra Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 20.909s 22
25 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 21.096s 25
26 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 21.370s 20
27 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Clearwater Racing Ferrari 21.913s 23
28 GTE Pro N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, R.Stanaway Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 22.933s 25
29 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina Spirit of Race Ferrari 23.228s 22
30 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, N.Foster Gulf Racing Porsche 23.953s 22

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article WEC Spa: Kobayashi keeps Toyota ahead of Porsche in second practice
Next article World Endurance Championship looking at 2018 format revamp

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe