ELMS: IDEC Sport and G-Drive set the pace in a warm and sunny Barcelona

G-Drive Racing in the afternoon and IDEC Sport in the evening/night session set the pace in Barcelona on Friday at the Circuit de Catalunya. Clouds and sunshine in Barcelona this afternoon, with temperatures reaching close to 30° all day while it never really cooled down and the evening session was driven under a very pleasant 24°.  

A lap of 1.34.242 early in the afternoon session was enough for Jean-Eric Vergne to claim the top spot in his #26 Aurus 01. Nico Lapierre in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 was second fastest, just 0.15 seconds behind the double Formula E champion.  Anders Fjordbach really starts to feel at home now in the Oreca 07, setting the third-fastest time of the session in 1.34.456, just 2 tenths of a second shy of Vergne.

Rounding out the top 5 were Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed (1.34.729) and Ben Barnicoat in the #45 Carlin Dallara (1.34.860), the first non-Oreca on the timetable.  Alex Brundle followed in the #32 United Autosports Ligier in sixth position.  The first nine cars finished within a second this afternoon. 

In LMP3 it was Mikkel Jensen who set the pace again after winning the Monza round, with a time of 1.41.486 in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier JSP3.  Damiano Fioravanti set the #10 Oregon Team Norma M30 on second place, just over 1.2 seconds slower than Jensen.  Third fastest was another Norma; the #17 Ultimate of Matthieu Lahaye (1.42.882). Ross Kaiser in the #5 360 Racing and Nigel Moore in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier completed the top 5. 

Ferrari took control of the LMGTE class with the #60 Kessel Racing F488 on top, driven by Andrea Piccini (1.44.721).  WEC GTE Am champion Jörg Bergmeister put the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche on second place, just over half a second slower than Piccini.  In third spot was the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Matteo Cairoli (1.45.315), followed by the Ferrari’s of Luzich Racing (#51) and JMW (#66). 

The session was red-flagged 2 times: early in the session due to debris on track and right before the end when Ben Hanley got off track in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca 07.  3 cars didn’t make it out for the first practice session: both United Autosports LMP3’s and the #7 Nielsen Racing LMP3. 

The second session of the day started right after sunset and saw the cars driving into the darkness.  A first for the European Le Mans Series, but very well received by teams, drivers and media. 

Paul Loup Chatin in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca set the pace last night with a laptime of 1.34.359, which was only 0.117 of a second slower than Vergne’s quickest lap in the afternoon. Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed was second fastest in 1.35.018, followed by Arjun Maini in the #43 RLR Msport. 

Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosport Ligier was the first non-Oreca driver in fourth place, 1.377 seconds behind the leader. Ben Barnicoat was fastest again in the Carlin Dallara, putting him on sixth place by the end of the session. 

Norma was quickest in LMP3 with Yann Ehrlacher on top in his #19 M Racing M30, with a laptime of 1.43.331. Mikkel Jensen followed in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier, just under half a second behind the Frenchman. Wayne Boyd in the #2 United Autosports Ligier went third fastest in 1.43.888, followed by the #17 Ultimate Norma. 

The #10 Team Oregon Norma must have hit trouble somewhere as it only managed 4 laps with Damiano Fioravanti at the wheel. 

Matt Griffin was very quick in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, 1.45.421 his best time, right in the mix with the fastest LMP3 drivers. Nicklas Nielsen in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari F488 was a close second, only 0.079 seconds behind Griffin.  Michelle Gatting was a strong third in the # 83 Kessel Racing Ferrari 1:45.916. Matteo Cairoli was (once again) the fastest Porsche driver in fourth position. 

Qualifying is set for 10h40 Saturday morning, the start of the race into dusk will be given at 18h30. 

Results FP1

Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen. 

Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen

ELMS: First pole for Cool Racing in Monza, Légeret outstanding in LMP3

Nico Lapierre scored Cool Racing’s first pole position in the ELMS this afternoon in a qualifying session that was red flagged with just seconds to go. Lucas Legeret emerged on top of a very exciting LMP3 session, taking pole in his final lap, while Matteo Cairoli was outstanding in the LMGTE Class. 

LMP2

© ELMS/JEP - www.jakobebrey.com

Nicolas Lapierre gave Cool Racing their first pole position in the European Le Mans Series this afternoon.  The Frenchman’s mid session best time of 1.34.967 was enough to start from the lead in tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Monza.  

Paul Loup Chatin set the first benchmark with his #28 IDEC Sport Oreca in 1.35.214. 6 minutes into the session Lapierre did his quickest lap of 1.34.967, taking over provisional pole in the Cool Racing Oreca.  Chatin wasn’t able to further improve his time, so it was up to Norman Nato in the G-Drive to challenge Lapierre for pole.

© ELMS/JEP - www.jakobebrey.com

With 2,5 minutes left in the session, Norman Nato set a 1.35.213, taking up the second spot on the grid with just 1 thousand of a second.  The Frenchman was “en route” for another flyer - and a possible pole position - when Nicolas Jamin went off at Ascari, straight into the safety barriers.  The session was almost immediately red flagged, denying Nato to finish his second flyer and his chance for a third flying lap. Jamin did get out of his #30 Oreca, but the car seems to be heavily damaged in the front, giving the mechanics perhabs an overnight job to get it race ready tomorrow. 

An all French top 3 then, with the Oreca’s dominating again up to P8 in qualifying with all cars within one second. Filipe Albuquerque was ninth fastest in the #22 United Autosports Ligier (1.35.984), after locking up at the brake zone of the second chicane early in the session. The Portuguese only setting his best time just before the red flag was being waived. Alex Brundle in the second United Autosports Ligier will start next to Albuquerque on the fifth row of the grid. Both Dallara’s follow further down the order with the #45 Carlin in P11 and the #47 Cetilar Racing in P15. 

All cars made it out for qualifying, including the #34 Inter Europol Competition which had a big crash this morning in the Parabolica. 

LMP3

It was obvious after both practice sessions that the Norma’s would be on top to fight for pole position this afternoon, but no one expected such a tantalizing 10 minutes of qualifying.  All five Norma drivers had claimed provisional pole at a certain time, but in the end it was Lucas Légeret in the #19 M.Racing Norma who took pole position with a gap of 0.207 seconds over Colin Noble in the #7 Nielsen Racing. 

Noble looked set for pole position when Légeret saw his penultimate lap deleted due to track limits.  The Swiss youngster who turned 18 yesterday didn’t seem to care and squeezed out an impressive 1.44.017 out of his Norma in the dying minutes of the session, scoring his second pole position in the series after Portimao last year and an improvement of yesterday’s lap record with almost 0.9 seconds. 

Damiano Fioravanti was third fastest in the #10 Oregon Team Norma (1.44.377), followed by Le Castellet winner Matthieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate and David Droux in the #9 Realteam Racing. Wayne Boyd in the #6 United Autosports Ligier was the quickest non-Norma driver in P6. 

2 cars didn’t make it out on track during qualifying: the #11 Eurointernational and the #5 360 Racing Ligiers. 

LMGTE

Matteo Cairoli was unbeatable in the LMGTE class, taking pole position 0.4 seconds clear from the rest of the field in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche with a time of 1.46.351.  “I’m over the moon with pole position on my home track said the Italian who lives nearby in Como.  My first lap wasn’t that good, but I got 2 clear laps after that, enough to take pole position.  We’re ready to finish the job tomorrow” said a very happy Matteo Cairoli straight after qualifying. 

Jörg Bergmeister was the only driver who found a pace within a second from Cairoli, but his best lap of 1.46.773 was still 0.422 seconds off pace. The second row of the grid will be reserved for the Ferrari’s of Spirit of Race (#55, Matt Griffin in 1.47.395) and Kessel Racing (#60, Andrea Piccini in 1.47.468).  The #80 Ebimotors Porsche of Fabio Babini will start from fifth position. 

Qualifying results LMP2

Qualifying results LMP3

Qualifying results LMGTE

Free Practice 2

An eventful session this morning with several Full Course Yellows and a long red flag interruption when Leo Roussel in the #34 Inter Europol Ligier went off at Parabolica and hard into the barriers. Roussel got out of the car on his own but was brought to the medical centre and hospital for some precautionary checks.  The session was ended a few minutes before the 90 minute mark when the #11 Eurointernational Ligier got off at Ascari. 

© ELMS/JEP - www.jakobebrey.com

Paul Loup Chatin put the #28 Idec Sport Oreca on top, with a new lap record of 1.35.701, beating Ben Hanley’s record from qualifying last year (1.35.837).  A strong run from Arjun Maini in the #43 RLR Msport put him into second place, 0.114 seconds behind the leading Oreca. The #26 G-Drive Aurus 01 completed the top 3 with Norman Nato quickest in 1.36.035.  The Oreca’s 07 occupied the top 5 this morning, series debutant Renger Van Der Zande on fourth place in the #21 Dragonspeed and Andrea Pizzitola in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing fifth fastest. 

Best of the rest were both Gibson powered Dallara P217’s. Ben Barnicoat (1.36.795) in the #45 Carlin beating Giorgio Sernagiotto in the #47 Cetilar Racing machine with 0.346 seconds. United Autosports had the fastest Ligier with them, Filipe Albuquerque finishing on P11 with the #22 Ligier, 1.6 seconds off the leader’s pace.

LMP3

2 Norma’s were on top again in LMP3, with this time the #9 Realteam Racing M30 of David Droux on top of the timesheets.  His best time of 1.46.531 was 0.036 seconds faster than the inevitable Damiano Fioravanti in the #10 Oregon Team Norma. The #11 Eurointernational Ligier of Mikkel Jensen was the quickest non-Norma chassis again in 1.46.962. Wayne Boyd in the #2 United Autosports Ligier and Lucas Légeret in the #19 M.Racing Norma rounded out the top 5. 

LMGTE

In LMGTE Matteo Cairoli was the fastest man on track this morning. The Italian was really in the mix with the LMP3 cars, setting a best laptime of 1.47.098 in his #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche.  Another track record on this session, and just over 0.4 seconds faster than last year’s track record set by Ricardo Pera in the Ebimotors Porsche (1.4.493). Cairoli set the 25th overall time, with only 5 LMP3 cars faster than his Porsche. 

Jörg Bergmeister was quick again in the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche, finishing the session in P2, 0.346 seconds behind Cairoli. Alessandro Pier Guidi set the third time this morning in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari, followed by Matt Griffin in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari and Fabio Babini in the #80 Ebimotors Porsche. 

Free Practice 2 results 

The 4 Hours of Monza are set to start tomorrow at noon local time.

Kristof Vermeulen. 

ELMS: IDEC Sport and Dragonspeed set the pace in first practice sessions at Le Castellet

For the second time this week, the lap record at Circuit Paul Ricard was broken in the LMP2 class.  Monday night Anders Fjordbach set a new record in his #20 High Class Racing Oreca 07, this morning Paul Loup Chatin shaved another 0.068 seconds from his time to set the new record at 1.40.336 in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca.  

Nico Lapierre was second fastest this morning in the #37 Cool Racing, just under half a second behind his fellow Frenchman. Ben Hanley - who set the quickest time yesterday - got himself into third place with a 1.41.227.  The Oreca’s dominated the LMP2 class again, while Paul Di Resta was the fastest of the Ligier drivers for the second time this weekend, putting his #22 United Autosports Ligier JSP2 on sixth place, 1.6 seconds off Chatin’s record lap. 

David Droux was the first driver to beat Damiani Fiorivanti in the LMP3 class since Monday evening.  Droux’ lap of 1.51.449 was just 0.051 seconds quicker than the Italian, but enough to put his #9 Realteam Norma on top of the list this morning.  Nigel Moore was third fastest in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, breaking through yesterday’s domination of Norma in the class. 

The Proton Competition Porsches continued to set the pace in the GTE Class.  Thomas Preining in the #88 took the honours for the fastest lap in 1.53.473, holding off Matteo Cairoli in the #77 Porsche and Michelle Gatting in the #83 Kessel Racing Ferrari. 

Ben Hanley was the fastest man on track yesterday morning, the Englishman setting a time of 1.41.227 in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca 07. Arjun Maini didn’t miss his debut in the LMP2 class, immediately putting the #43 RLR Msport Oreca on second place, 0.858 seconds behind Hanley.  Job Van Uitert obviously feels right at home in the LMP2 machinery, setting exactly the same time on the board as Maini in the #26 G-Drive Aurus 01. 

More Oreca’s followed with an impressive Antonin Borga setting the fourth time in the #37 Cool Racing, holding off new lap record holder Anders Fjordbach in the #20 High Class Racing Oreca 07. 

United Autosports took command of the Ligiers with Paul Di Resta in seventh position; 1.42.288 his best lap in the #22 Ligier JSP2. Leo Roussel was the second fastest Ligier driver with the #34 Inter Europol Competition in 10th place overall.  The sole Dallara on the grid of Jack Manchester, Olivier Pla and Ben Barnicoat only managed three outlaps yesterday morning, leaving the #45 Carlin on last place after the first practice session.

Norma was on top in the LMP3 class, with four Nissan powered M30’s quickest overall. Domiani Floravanti continued to impress in the #10 Oregon Team Norma with another fastest time in 1.50.592.  For Florivanti the fourth session in a row where he’s fastest since setting the lap record in an LMP3 car on Monday evening.  The Italian driver was 0.782 seconds faster than David Droux in the new #9 Realteam Norma, followed by Yann Ehrlacher and Lucas Legeret in the #19 M.Racing.  Both team mates within 0.16 seconds from each other which might give them a big advantage during the race on Sunday. Jean-Baptiste Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate Norma was fourth fastest on Friday morning. 

Best of the rest was Wayne Boyd in the #2 United Autosports Ligier with a best tome of 1.52.068, over 1.3 seconds off the pace of the quickest Norma. He was followed by Ross Kaiser, the only driver to go round in the #6 360 Racing and Colin Noble in another Norma, the #7 of Nielsen Racing. 

Contrary to the results of both test days, Porsche took the GTE class in hand yesterday with a clean sweep of the first three places. Proton Competition took the first two spots with Matteo Cairoli quickest in the #77 911 RSR (1.54.473), ahead of Thomas Preiling in the #88 sister car (+0.048). Jörg Bergmeister completed the top 3 for Porsche in the Team Project 1 Porsche (1.54.679). 

Aaron Scott in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari was the fastest non-Porsche driver, leading a pack of 3 Ferrari’s.  His best laptime of 1.55.332 was just under a second slower than Cairoli’s.  The #83 all female Kessel Ferrari and last year’s runner up JMW Motorsport 488 GTE rounded out the top six of the GTE Class. 

The Bronze driver test on Friday afternoon was run in wet conditions, but still saw 22 cars venturing out on track.  John Falb was quickest in the #25 Algarve Pro Oreca 07 in 2.02.588, with John Farano about 0.250 second behind him in the #43 RLR Msport Oreca.  Alexandre Coigny made it an Oreca top 3 in the #37 Cool Racing. 

Paul Scheusner set the pace in the LMP3 class with the #14 Inter Europol Ligier (2.08.349), followed by the youngster of the field, Gustas Grinbergas in the #10 Oregon Norma.   Fastest in GTE was WEC driver Egidio Perfetti in the Project 1 Porsche (2.10.786).

FIA WEC: Lap record and pole for Toyota, Perez Companc crashes out of qualifying

A new lap record and pole position for Toyota yesterday evening as Fernando Alonso put in a staggering 1.40.124 at the end of the session.  Alonso even claimed being able to go faster and a 1.39 could have been possible. The previous qualifying record at Sebring was held by Marco Werner in the Audi R10 back in 2007 in 1.44.974. The quickest race lap so far has been set by Sebastien Bourdais in a Peugeot 908 in 2009.  The Toyota TS050 Hybrid literally trashed both records, shaving off almost 4 seconds from the previous qualifying record.

The #3 Rebellion R13 of Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes was “best of the rest”, claiming third place on the grid ahead of the #17 SMP Racing  of Egor Orudzhev and Stéphane Sarrazin. Orudzhev was the quickest of the non-hybrid drivers, his best time of 1.41919 also remarkable faster than the previous record of the Audi’s.

In LMP2 Jackie Chan DC Racing swept out the front row, putting the competition almost a second behind them. Stephane Richelmi continued his strong performance and clinched pole position with Ho Pin Tung in an average time of 1.47.558.  The #37 Oreca of Will Stevens and David Heinemeier Hansson was 0.650 seconds behind. Nico Lapierre and Andre Negrao secured third spot on the grid with the #36 Signatech Alpine.

The GTE session was red flagged with 7 minutes and 40 seconds to go when Luis Perez-Companc went hard into the barriers at the braking zone of Turn 7.  His #61 Clearw ater Ferrari suddenly broke out to the left under braking, going hard into the barriers and sliding down the track.  Perez Companc got out of the car by himself, but the damage to the car seems severe so it’s unclear whether the Ferrari will be repairable to appear on the grid tomorrow morning.

With 2 minutes to go, the #63 Corvette of Andy Garcia and Jan Magnussen appeared on top of the timetable, but it eventually fell back to fifth place.  Garcia however set the quickest time of all GTE drivers.  Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen secured pole in the #92 Porsche, beating both Ford GT’s.  The #67 of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell will start from seconds position (+ 0.115s), followed by the #66 of Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla.

Matt Campbell and Christian Ried secured pole position in the Am class with their #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche in a combined time of 1.59.790. Egidio Perfetti and Jorg Bergmeister made it a front row lockout for Porsche, a great result for Team Project 1 after their misfortune last Sunday. Another great recovery from the #98 Aston Martin which got fixed by the mechanics after Dalla Lana’s hefty crash at turn 17 and took third place in qualifying.

The final 1 hour practice session yesterday afternoon was run in (very) hot conditions, which are also expected for tomorrow during the 1000 miles of Sebring. Although temperatures drop a little at night, it tends to get very humid after sunset, not really improving driving conditions.

The 1 hour session saw quite some incidents with the Toyota #8 and #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari have a short excursion into the grass and the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca spinning round at the exit of turn 5 halfway the session.  Paul Dalla Lana had a big accident in his #98 Aston Martin, when he was caught by surprise by one of the Ford GT’s and crashed into the barriers in turn 17. Dalla Lana stepped out unharmed but the car’s left side was heavily damaged.  The Aston Martin mechanics however managed to get the car back in order for the evening qualifying session. 

Jose Maria Lopez went quickest in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid in 1.41.448, with Kazuki Nakajima on second place in the #8 sister car.  The gap with the non-hybrid cars was just over 1.5 seconds, Stéphane Sarrazin setting the third fastest time in his #17 SMP Racing BR1. In LMP2 it was Stéphane Richelmi who put the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca back on top again with a time of 1.47.716    Despite their problems in last nights session, Nick de Vries was very quick again in the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara, putting it on second place, just 0.119 seconds behind Richelmi. No change in the top 3 compared to yesterday’s night session with Nico Lapierre back in third place on the Signatech Alpine Matmut.

The LMGTE Pro class was very competitive again, all cars setting a fastest time within 0.635 seconds.  Andy Priaulx got quickest in the #67 Ford GT with a fastest time of 1.57.730. Alex Lynn followed closely in the #97 Aston Martin (+ 0.062), with Harry Tincknell in the second Ford GT right on his heels.  Dempsey-Proton Racing dominated the LMGTE Am class with both Porsches; Matt Campbell going quickest in the #77 (1.58.554) with Matteo Cairoli 0.706 seconds behind him in the #88 in second place.  Rounding out the top 3 was Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche.  

The start of the 1000 Miles of Sebring (or maximum 8 hours) will be given this afternoon at 16h local time here in Florida, which is 20h UK time and 21h in Central Europe. You will find coverage on Radio Le Mans globally and the WEC has done a great job in getting race coverage scheduled in most geographies (check local listings) as well as removing geo-blocking to its app in the United States.

Free Practice 3 results

Qualifying results LMP1 & LMP2
Qualifying results GTE

FIA WEC: First practice reports for the 1000 Miles of Sebring

As expected with the new EOT for Sebring, the Toyota’s gained a bigger advantage over the non-hybrids again. Both Toyota’s dominated the LMP1 class in both sessions, over a second clear of the non-hybrid privateer LMP1’s.  LMP2 and GTE however were very close so far, with almost all cars setting laptimes within a second, promising us some good racing into the night tomorrow. 

Kazuki Nakajima was the fastest man in Florida yesterday afternoon’s first practice session with a 1.41.957, just over half a second ahead of Jose Maria Lopez in the sister car.  The Rebellions were the quickest non-hybrids, 1.5 seconds behind the Toyota’s. Mathias Beche in the #1 Rebellion R13 (1.43.552) beating Gustavo Menezes in the #3 with just over tenth of a second. Both SMP Racing BR1’s followed the Rebellions, with Dragonspeed closing the LMP1 line-up. 

Nyck de Vries put the #29 Racing Team Nederland on top of the LMP2 sheets with a 1.47.835.  De Vries was also the quickest LMP2 driver over the test weekend ahead of race week in Sebring. Andre Negrao in the #36 Signatech Alpine was second fastest, just under half a second behind the Dutchman. Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca with both Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca’s behind him. 

LMGTE Pro was tight with all cars within one second except for the #71 AF Corse. Maxime Martin set the benchmark in his #97 Aston Martin Vantage with a laptime of 1.58.044. The #67 Ford GT of  came in second fastest after setting the quickest time early in the session, just ahead of Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR. 

No Project 1 Porsche in the first session yet, having received a new car after a hefty fire on Sunday’s test session destroying the back of their 911. Pedro Lamy got round the track in just over 2 minutes (2.00.043), and pipped Matteo Cairoli with 9 thousands of a second in the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche. Matt Campbell put the second Proton Porsche on third place, 36 thousands behind Cairoli.  The first five cars in the class were separated by only 0.045 seconds, it doesn’t get any closer than that !  

Times dropped during the second practice session in the evening which almost immediately went into Full Course Yellow when Anthony Davidson lost a wheel of his Dragonspeed LMP2.  It was the other way round now for the Toyota’s when Jose Maria Lopez put the #7 TS050 Hybrid on top (1.41.730), ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the #8.  SMP Racing emerged in the non-hybrid class with Stéphane Sarrazin (1.43.009) and Brendon Hartley - who celebrates his return to LMP1 this weekend, replacing Jenson Button - in third and fourth place. 

Stéphane Richelmi was fastest in the dark in LMP2, setting a 1.47.716 in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca.  Despite a suspension failure, the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara claimed the second fastest time again, Nick de Vries just 0.119 seconds behind Richelmi.  The car suffered a suspension failure though,  and despite Frits Van Eerd making it back into pitlane, it didn’t come out anymore for the rest of the session, only managing 10 laps.  Nico Lapierre in the #36 Signatech Alpine was third fastest, the first six cars finishing within one second. 

If you thought LMP2 was close, all cars in the GTE Pro class managed to finish within a one second margin, except for the Corvette being 1.003 seconds off the pace of the Alexander Lynn’s Aston Martin.  Lynn set a fastest time of 1.57.792, 0.033 seconds ahead of Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT. The second Ford of Stefan Mücke was third quickest. 

A similar story in the GTE Am class, with all cars bar one (TF Sport) also within a second. Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche got under the 2 minute mark in 1.59.327.  Giancarlo Fisichella in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari was second fastest (1.59.407), just ahead of Matteo Cairoli in the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche. 

The third and final practice session and night qualifying will be run later today. 

Results FP1

Results FP2

FIA WEC: Toyota quickest in a wet Shanghai

Toyota set the pace today on a wet and slippery track in Shanghai.  Where as the morning session was run on a damp and drying track, conditions in the afternoon session got worse. This caused two full course yellows that briefly interrupted the 90 minute session. The first one after James Calado went for a trip outside turn 2, the second FCY was called when the TDS Oreca lost a wheel. 

© Toyota Motorsport gmbh

The morning practice started in damp conditions with a drying track by the end of the session.  It started well for the non hybrid LMP1 cars with both SMP Racing and Rebellion on top of the class. Jenson Button in the #11 SMP Racing set the pace early in the wet session with a best time of 2.00.369, holding off Neel Jani in the #1 Rebellion who was 0.2 seconds slower.

By the end of the session, on a drying track, both Toyota’s emerged to the top of the leaderboard. Sebastien Buemi set the fastest time with his #8 TS050 Hybrid in 1.54.768. Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 Toyota was second fastest, just over 1.5 seconds slower. 

Matevos Isaakyan was quickest of the non-hybrid cars in 1.58.880, ahead of the surprising #4 ByKolles of Tom Dillman. Dragonspeed struggled with some electronical issues on their BR1, only managing a handful of laps throughout the session and not being able to set a real reference time. 

© Jackie Chan DC Racing

Jackie Chan DC Racing was fastest in the LMP2 class with Jazzeman Jafaar putting the #37 Oreca 07 op top with a time of 2.02.923. A surprising second was Nyck De Vries in the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara, the best result so far for the Dutch team in any practice session this season. His time of 2.03.551 was just over 0.6 seconds slower than Jaafar but 0.7 seconds faster than Loïc Duval in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca. 

Gabriel Aubry in the second Jackie Chan DC Oreca and Enzo Guibbert in the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier completed the top 5 in the morning session. 

© TF Sport/Andrew Lofthouse

BMW Team MTEK was on top of the LMGTE Pro leaderboard after a lap in the final minutes of the session of 2.38.830 by Martin Tomczyck in the #81 BMW M8 GTE. Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR went second fastest, just under 2.4 seconds behing Tomczyck. Third fastest was Maxime Martin in the #97 Aston Martin. In his first visit to the Shanghai circuit, the Belgian set a best time of 2.12.568. 

In the GTE AM class, TF Sport led the way in their #90 Aston Martin Vantage.  Charlie Eastwood posted the fastest lap in 2.11.764, 1.7 seconds ahead of Matt Campbell in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Matt Campbell. Keita Sawa in the #61 Clearwater Ferrari was third quickest, just 0.1 second shy of Campbell. 

AFTERNOON SESSION

Conditions got worse during the afternoon session, now on a fully wet and slippery track. As a result no teams were able to set faster times than in the morning session.  Toyota continued to dominate the LMP1 class with another 1-2 after 90 minutes, but the gap to Rebellion went down to 0.414 seconds. 

Jose Maria Lopez was the fastest man in the wet, setting the fastest time late in the session in 2.02.259, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the second Toyota.  Thomas Laurent in the #3 Rebellion stayed closest to both Hybrids, in a 2.02.673, ahead of André Lotterer in the second Rebellion which was 0.2 seconds further down.  

© SMP Racing

Jenson Button was the fastest SMP Racing driver in his #11 BR1.  The Dragonspeed BR1 had a decent run in the afternoon, managing 29 laps and finishing in seventh position behind both SMP Racing cars. ByKolls, which were fourth fastest in the morning session, now closed off the LP1 ranking. 

In LMP2 it’s Jazeman Jafaar again who topped the timetable in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca07 (2.10.869). André Negrao was just behind him in the championship leading #36 Signatech Alpine with a best time of 2.10.869. Third fastest, and third Oreca, was Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #28 TDS Racing.  

© TDS Racing

Racing Team Nederland’s Dallara seems to be adapting well to the damp and wet conditions in Shanghai, Giedo van der Garde setting the fourth fastest time in the second session with a 2.12.156.  Rounding out the top 5 was Gabriel Aubry in the second Jackie Chan Oreca. 

3 different manufacturers make out the top 3 of the LMGTE Pro class with James Calado on top in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE.  Calado set a best time of 2.14.315, 0.649 seconds ahead of Antonio Felix Da Costa in the #82 BMW M8 GTE. Maxime Martin again was the fastest Aston Martin driver in third place, only 0.019 seconds behind Da Costa. 

© Aston Martin Racing

Nicky Thiim put the second Aston Martin on fourth place, with Oliver Gavin behind him in the #64 Corvette C7.R. Gavin’s quickest lap was just under 2 seconds off the pace of the leading Ferrari. The first Porsche in the afternoon session was the #92 of Kevin Estre, followed by the #66 Ford GT driven by Olivier Pla.  

Giancarlo Fisichella was the quickest man in the LMGTE Am class this afternoon with a 2.16.835 in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Matt Griffin set the second fastest time in the Clearwater Ferrari, 0.043 seconds slower than the Italian. Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche completed the top 3. 

Results FP1
Results FP2


Kristof Vermeulen

FIA WEC: Pole postion for Toyota and Aston Martin in Fuji

After a dramatic qualifying session, Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid claimed pole position for their home race in Fuji tomorrow. 

© Joao Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com

Initially, the #7 Toyota of Jose Maria Lopes and Kamui Kobayashi earned pole position when Sebastian Buemi saw his best time being deleted due to track limits violation. But when Lopes entered the pitlane too fast after his flying lap, his only laptime was deleted, forcing them to the back end of the LMP1 grid. An average laptime of 1.23.648 put the #8 on pole then for tomorrow’s race. 

© Rebellion Racing

Quickest of the non-Hybrids and on front row tomorrow was the #1 Rebellion R13 of André Lotterer and Neel Jani with an average time of 1.24.359, 0.711 seconds shy of the Toyota. The #3 sister car of Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes will be third on the grid and ova the #17 SMP Racing BR1 of Egor Ordhzev and Stephane Sarrazin next to them. Row three will be filled by the #11 SMP Racing and the #4 ByKolles Eens CLM/P1 while Dragonspeed will have the second Toyota next to them on the fourth row of the grid. 

After the free practice sessions, the non-hybrid LMP1’s have been given an extra EoT break in a new attempt to make them more competitive against the Toyota’s. The normally aspirated cars (Rebellion, Dragonspeed) now have an increased fuel weight per stint (55,5 kg vs 54,4 kg), the turbo powered LMP1’s (ByKolles, SMP Racing) also got an increased amount of fuel up to 50,3 kg. Also the maximum amount of petrol energy per lap has been increased for all non hybrid cars. 

© Joao Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com

In the LMP2 class, Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez scored the first pole position in the FIA WEC for Dragonspeed. Their average laptime of 1.28.906 in the #31 Oreca held off both Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca’s; the #38 of Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry and the #37 of Jazeman Jafaar and Nabil Jeffri.  Championship leaders Signatech Alpine were fourth fastest, TDS Racing completing the top 5 for Oreca once again.  Racing Team Nederland (Dallara) and Larbre Competition (Ligier) took sixth and seventh place. 

© Aston Martin Racing

Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen claimed pole position in the LMGTE Pro class with their #95 Aston Martin,  the first pole position for the new Aston Martin Vantage. With an average laptime of 1.36.093, the “Dane train” outpaced the surprising #82 BMW M8 GTE of Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Felix Da Costa (1.36.275). The second Aston Martin (#97) of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn took the third sport on the grid and will have the #67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell next to them.  Rounding out the top 5 was the first Ferrari, #71 of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird. The Porsches who had been top runners in all practice sessions had a bit a disappointing session, only managing 8th and 10th place on the grid. Qualifying in the Pro class was very close again with all ten cars in just over a second.   

© Porsche

Dempsey Proton Competition scored its second pole in the Super season with the #88  of Matteo Cairoli and Satoshi Hoshino. Quite a debut for the 57 year old Hoshino in the FIA WEC. Their combined average laptime of  1.38.366 was just 0.064 seconds quicker than Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana in the #98 Aston Martine Vantage. Third fastest was the second Proton Porsche of Matt Campbell and Christian Ried. 

The start for the 6 Hours of Fuji will be given at 11h00 on Sunday morning local time, that’s 4h00 CET so an early morning wake up call if you want to watch the race in Europe (or a short night if you’ve survived Petit Le Mans on Saturday evening/night). 

Friday practice sessions

© Toyota Gazoo Racing

Toyota also set yesterday’s pace with Fernando Alonso (#7) on top of both free practice sessions. Alonso set a best time of 1.23.973 in the afternoon session, just over a second faster than Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 TS050 Hybrid. 

All laptimes in the second session were significantly faster as the morning session was driven on a damp and drying track. Issues with some of the kers disrupted both practice sessions though, both sessions being red flagged for some time to deal with damage to some kerbs which had to be removed. The quickest non-hybrid LMP1 was the #3 Rebellion of Thomas Laurent.  Despite the new BoP which was introduced for the race weekend in Fuji, the gap with the leading Toyota was still just over 1.7 seconds (1.25.697). Jenson Button put his #11 SMP Racing BR1 on fourth place. 

© TDS Racing

In LMP2, Matthieu Vaxiviere set the quickest time over both 90 minute sessions with a 1.30.630.  Vaxiviere’s time was the only one from the first practice session which wasn’t improved in the afternoon session. Freshly crowned Le Mans champions Signatech Alpine Matmut were second fastest, Andre Negrao just 0.050 seconds off the TDS Oreca. Third quickest was Silverstone winner Ho-Pin Tung in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing.  Nyck De Vries in the #29 Racing Team Nederland was the fastest non-Oreca driver in sixth place overall. 

© Aston Martin Racing

Nicki Thiim in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage was the man to beat in LMGTE Pro yesterday. His time of 1.37.659 was 0.162 seconds faster than Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT who held off Davide Rigon in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.  Both Porsches followed in fourth and fifth. Despite their BoP adjustments, the BMW’s didn’t get any further than 8th and 10th on Friday, although all GTE Pro cars were within a margin of 0.845 seconds. 

© Joao Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com

Dempsey-Proton racing set the pace in the LMGTE Am class, with the #77 of Matteo Cairoli quickest in 1.38.989 ahead of Matt Campbell in the #88 sister car. The #61 Ferrari F488 GTE of Keita Sawa was third fastest in the shadow of Mount Fuji, leading the two other Ferrari’s of Spirit of Race and MR Racing. 

Qualifying results LMP1/LMP2
Qualifying results GTE

Results Free Practice 1
Results Free Practice 2
Results Free Practice 3


Kristof Vermeulen.