FIA WEC: Final results of the Prologue at Le Castellet.

With around two minutes left to run the 30 hour Prologue session was red-flagged due to the Dragonspeed LMP1 car stopping on the Mistral straight. With the cars now all back in the pits, Toyota leaves the Paul Ricard circuit with the ‘fastest’ car as Mike Conway topped the times with a 1:32.662. However, all may not be as it seems ... 

As reported by DSC, Toyota’s early times were set with the cars configured without the fuel flow and boost control limits that are specified by the Equivalence of Technology (EoT) regulations as the team were undertaking (successful) tests of a new cooling system to extreme levels. Since 5pm on Friday the team have reverted to the EoT specified engine configuration and the TS050’s lap times have dropped back; the #7 being behind the #11 SMP Racing BR1, the #1 Rebellion Racing R-13, #17 SMP BR1 and #4 ByKolles CLM non-hybrid LMP1s. 

And talking of the ByKolles CLM, the ageing chassis, loosely based remember on the ADESS built Lotus T128 LMP2 platform, has lapped consistently in the top times of the non-hybrid cars (with Tom Dillmann setting a 1:37.795 fastest lap) and completed a not unreasonable 331 laps over the two-day test.  

In the LMP1 category the non-hybrid field appears to be incredibly close with o.76s separating the top four cars and under 3 seconds for the entire field. With the extrapolation of the Toyota’s times being slower when the take to the track in Spa than headlined here we can be sure of some very close racing in the top class from the first round. 

Come race-day the three BR Engineering BR1 cars should be watched closely too – throughout the Prologue there has been little separating the SMP run cars and the Dragonspeed car yet they utilise different power units; a 2.4 litre V6 turbo AER for the SMP duo and the new 4.5 litre normally aspirated V8 Gibson GL458 for Dragonspeed.  

Looking at the LMP2 class the Oreca 07 continues its dominance displayed in 2017; the top three positions were all filled by the Oreca teams (with the #31 Dragonspeed topping the times) yet the gap certainly appears to be narrowing with Racing Team Nederland clocking up a 1:41.323 with their Dallara P217 to claim fourth spot means just 0.552 seconds separate them from the leading #31 Dragonspeed Oreca.

Sadly the sole Ligier JS P217 is still struggling to find speed in the hands of Labre Competition and the very competitive Fernando Rees (who for the moment at least appears to have swapped his Brazilian race licence for a Canadian one), languishing at the bottom of the class some 1.19 seconds off the lead pace. 

The Porsche and Ford factory teams continued their dominance of the GTE Pro ranks with the #91 and #92 911 RSRs taking first and second spot respectively over the #67 and #66 GTs of Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK, the fastest of the Porsches lapping some 0.7 seconds ahead of the Fords.

In terms of ‘getting the laps in’, Aston Martin Racing were the team to watch with the #95 Vantage AMR clocking in an enormous 852 laps with the next closest being the #82 BMW Team MTEK M8 GTE with 682. Neither Porsche nor Ford completed anywhere near as many laps with the #91 Porsche completing 350 laps and the #67 Ford GT clocking in 304. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly the GTE Am 991 RSR Porsches were setting the lap times alight with the #86 Gulf Racing UK and both Dempsey – Proton Racing cars splitting the GTE Pro field times, consequently the race in the Am field appeared to be to claim the honour of ‘second fastest manufacturer’. To that end, the ageing Aston Martin V8 Vantages of the factory team and TF Sport acquitted themselves admirably to hold back the AF Corse run Ferrari 488s – time will tell whether the ‘old bruisers’ can keep up their advantage of succumb to the turbo-lead attack of the Ferrari 488 GTEs.  

What all this means is that, as usual for the pre-season tests, not much can be drawn from today’s figures! While some of the cars will have been putting in ‘race pace’ laps some of the time, it is reasonable to suggest that all of the teams have been working through final test scenarios and as such the times set here today can at best be described as indicative.

Kristof Vermeulen

This article originally was published by our friends at Sportscarglobal.com. 

Pictures: © Jellybaby.media

FIA WEC: Five hours to the end of the Prologue

As the 2018 Prologue has now gone into its final five hours of the 30 hour test, the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid continues to top the timing sheets with a 1:32.662 fastest time set by Mike Conway, just under two seconds (1.993s) behind the sister car which has completed 690 laps running the low downforce aero kit.

The fastest of the non-hybrid LMP1s is the #11 SMP Racing BR1 which is a massive 4.372s behind the leading Le Mans-spec Toyota; but closed the gap to the #7 TS050 down to 2.4 seconds overnight. Rebellion Racing’s #1 R-13 is one hundredth of a second behind the BR1 with the sister #17 BR1 a further half a second behind the Rebellion. 

Perhaps against speculation the Bykolles Racing Team’s CLM continues to put in a good show holding fourth in the non-hybrid cars with a best lap of 1:37.795 after completing 230 laps. Seventh overall is Dragonspeed with the Gibson engined BR1 with the two CEFC TRSM Racing Ginetta G60-LT-P1s closing out the final two LMP1 spots. 

With no LMP2 teams choosing to run overnight the overall standings remain as last night with the cars returning to the track just 15 minutes ago. Dragonspeed remain the fastest with their Oreca 07 which has ex-Formula 1 pilot Pastor Maldanado back behind the wheel after setting the fastest time for the class (1:40.771). Larbre Competition continue to languish at the bottom of the class times with the Ligier JSP217 showing no signs of improved overall performance following the ‘off-season’ revisions. 

GTE Pro remains dominated by Porsche and Ford with the 911 RSRs of the factory Porsche team maintaining first (#91, 1:51.332) and second (#92, 1:51.837) spots followed by the number #66 and #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GTs. Fifth in class is still the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE despite no longer running due to an engine fire breaking out in the pitlane yesterday evening. The #82 BMW Team MTEK is in sixth place having pounded around through the night for 569 laps with the #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage AMR 0.055s behind. 

The Gulf Racing UK 911 RSR continues to top the GTE Am timing sheets with a 1:53.133 lap putting them square in the middle of the GTE Pro times. WEC debutants Team Project 1’s 911 RSR continues to hold second place, also up with the Pro cars with the #88 Dempsey – Proton Racing RSR in third. The older model Vantages of Aston Martin Racing (#98) and TF Sport (#90), setting lap times of 1:54.201 and 1:54.291 respectively remain ahead of the Ferrari 488s of Clearwater Racing (1:54.326), Spirit of Race (1:54.357) and MR Racing (1:54.384).

Kristof Vermeulen

This report originally was published at Sportscarglobal.com.
Pictures © Jellybaby.media

FIA WEC: 14 Hours into the Prologue, Rebellion taking command behind Toyota

We're nearly halfway the 2018 FIA WEC Prologue and running into the night as we speak. Of the 35 cars entered for the test only thirteen are running through the dark; five LMP1s, no LMP2s, and four each in GTE Pro and Am. 

The #8 Toyota TS050 – Hybrid still tops the timing sheets with its fastest lap set much earlier in the day and has now been garaged until Saturday with just the #7 still running. The #8 is going round in Le Mans spec (high downforce aero), explaining the gap of almost 2 seconds between both Toyota's.  The #8 Toyota who is running in the night session has done the most laps of the whole field so far with a total of 385.

Behind the two sole Hybrid entries, the privateer LMP1's are really close at the moment.  With the temperatures dropping, the laptimes are also going down as the night session evolves. Early in the evening, the Nissan powered ByKolles went third fastest. The #4 has had a solid run all day so far, putting in consistent laptimes and building up its pace during the day.  At this moment, 14 hours into the 30 hour test, it's Andre Lotterer who is fastest in the Rebellion/TVR R13, setting fastest lap after fastest lap.  He's now down to a 1.37.044, coming closer to the 2 second gap with the Toyota's. 

Behind Lotterer sits the ByKolles, who is now being chased by all three BR1's which are within a margin of just 0,136 seconds between them. Mikhail Aleshin is leading the pack at this moment in the #11 with Stephane Sarrazin in the #17 right on his tail.  The #10 Dragonspeed BR1 is fifth fastest.  The #5 Ginetta did come out early in the night session right before sunset, but Charlie Robertson had to pit back early when his rear bodywork came loose. 

Oreca 07 chassis still lock out the top of the LMP2 tables with Dragonspeed holding a half second gap over the TDS Racing car. Third is the Alpine badged Oreca of Signatech Alpine Matmut with Racing Team Nederland leap-frogging the two Jackie Chan DC Racing cars to put their Dallara into fourth spot while still running an evaluation program on both Michelin and Dunlop tyres this weekend. None of the LMP2 positions will change overnight as there are no cars running the overnight session. 

Moving on to the GTE Pro class, the two factory Porsche 911 RSRs hold the top two spots with the #91 car having a quarter second gap of its sister #92. Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK hold third (#67) and fourth (#66) spots with fifth going to the first of the AF Corse Ferraris, the #51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado. The #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage AMR has moved up to sixth place with the #71 Ferrari in seventh. The BMW's have dropped down to 8th and 10th position.  The #82 BMW has been very active all day, and drove up to 326 laps so far. 

The #77 Dempsey – Proton Racing 911 leads the GTE Am pack by the smallest of margins (0.070s) over the Team Project 1 RSR, both of which are lapping quicker then the Pro #82 BMW Team MTEK M8 GTE. The Porsche top three is rounded out by the Gulf Racing car of Michael Wainwright, Ben Barker and Alexander Davison. Snapping at the Porsche’s heels are the two older model Aston Martin Vantages of Aston Martin Racing and TF Sport – both of which have stopped for the night. The class is rounded out by the three Ferrari 488s of MR Racing, Spirit of Race and Clearwater Racing, all of which are run by AF Corse. 

Kristof Vermeulen

Part of this report has been published at Sportscarglobal.com earlier tonight

FIA WEC: Toyota on top after four hours at the Prologue

We're 4 hours in on the FIA WEC Prologue at Paul Ricard, the final test before the 2018/2019 Super season kicks off at Spa-Francorchamps in a few weeks time. 

Toyota is on top of the timetables, with the #8 TS050 Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi & Mike Conway leading the #7 sister car of Jose Maria Lopez and Anthony Davidson. The fastest lap of the #8 car was 1.34.151, over a second faster than the #7. 

The first of the non-hybrid LMP1's after 4 hours is the #6 CEFC TRSM Racing Ginetta of Oliver Rowland, Alex Brundell and Leo Roussel already 4.77 seconds behind the lead Toyota. Next up is the #4 BR Engineering BR1 (AER) of SMP Racing with Dragonspeed in the Gibson powered BR1 following on.  At this time, the Ginetta has a margin of 0.34 seconds over the first BR Engineering BR1.

The rejuvenated ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01 – Nismo sits in sixth after Olly Webb set a new personal best lap of 1:40.220. Closing out the LMP1 class is the second SMP Racing BR1 with the Rebellion TVR R13 half a second behind.  One car hasn't been out yet: the #5 CEFC TRSM Manor Ginetta of Charlie Robertson, Dean Stoneman and Leo Roussel. 

In the LMP2 Class the top five positions are held by the Oreca 07 chassis with Dragonspeed leading the pack, Signatech Alpine in second, TDS Racing third followed by the two Jacky Chan DC Racing cars #37 and #38. The first non-Oreca is the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara with the Ligier of Labre Competition closing out the class. LMP2 is very close so far with the first 6 cars within a second. 

Porsche just took over the lead in the GTE Pro class from both Ford GT"s.  Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche leads the pack ahead of the #66 and #67 Fords. The gap between the leading Porsche and the first Ford now down to less than 0.14 seconds. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre is fourth with the first of the AF Corse Ferrari's in fifth (#51). 

The #82 BMW M8 GTE is holding sixth place from the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488. The second of the AF Corse Ferraris (#71) is in seventh ahead of the second BMW. The two new Aston Martin Vantage AMRs are lapping towards the back of the pack in nith and 10th place. 

The GTE Am cars are showing well with the first being the 911 RSR of Gulf Racing, being trailed by the #90 TF Sport "old" Aston Martin Vantage GTE.  Third is the #88 Dempsey-Proton RSR with the  #56 Team Project 1 and the #77 Dempsey Proton RSRs behind.  The first two cars in GTE Am are setting laptimes will into the range of the Pro cars, sitting between 6th and 7th place in the Pro class. 

Kristof Vermeulen.

Part of this article was orginally published at Sportscarglobal.com

FIA WEC 2017 - Monza Prologue Diary: Sunday afternoon

In the lunchtime interval the clouds of the morning parted to be replaced by hazy sunshine. With perfect conditions, we expected there might be some quick times. Here are the notes from the final session of the 2017 Prologue.

Tandy in the #1 Porsche was first out of pit exit at the start of the session, but it was Lapierre in the #8 Toyota who set the fastest time of the weekend thus far with a lap of 1:30.547 on his first flying lap. At 14:11 Jarvis in the #38 Jackie Chan DC racing Oreca set the fastest LMP2 time of the prologue 1:37.379. This was followed at 14:13 by Makoweiecki on Porsche #1 with a lap of 1:48.311, the fastest thus far in the Prologue in GTE Pro. Five minutes later Jarvis improved the time of the #38 to 1:37.295. At 14:18, Pla in Ford GT #66 went fastest in GTE Pro with a 1:47.572. 

At 14:22 we discovered that the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche was not expected to take part in the session (no reason offered). At 14:26 Petrov in the CEFC Manor #24 set a lap time of 1:36.590 putting it fastest in LMP2 this session.

At the 30 minute mark the hazy sunshine had turned into crisp spring blue sky and perfect conditions. The early pace of Lapierre (whose 33rd birthday is today BTW) kept the #8 Toyota at the top of the timing screen followed by the #1 Porsche and #7 Toyota.  In LMP2 the time set by Petrov ensured the #24 CEFC Manor was quickest in class, followed by the #36 Signatech Alpine and and #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca. In GTE Pro the time set by Pla in the Ford GT #66 put it at the top of class, followed by the #91and #92 Porsches. In GTE Am, the #61 Clearwater racing Ferrari was quickest, ahead of the #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche and #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari.

At 14:48 Panciatici put in a lap of 1:36.559 in the #35 Signatech Alpine, promoting it to fastest in class. At that point, all cars we had expected to see had set times.

The second half hour of the session saw no change at the top of LMP1, GTE Pro or GTE Am, but  Panciatici's lap propelled the #35 Signatech Alpine to the top of LMP2, demoting the #24 CEFC Manor and #36 Signatech Alpine to second and third. 

At 15:24 we saw the G-Drive #26 going slowly on the approach to Parabolica (bringing out a local yellow flag), then it stopped completely. Rusinov managed to get it moving again after a minute or two and very slowly made his way back to the pit lane and was promptly pushed back into the pit garage.

Just as the 90 minute mark was passed, Tincknell took the #67 Ford GT up to the top of GTE Pro table with a time of 1:47.530, putting it ahead of the #66 Ford GT, the #91 Porsche and #92 Porsche. In LMP1, LMP2 and GTE Am the positions had not changed since the previous half hour point.

At 15:47 there was an improvement from Jarvis in the Jackie Chan DC Racing #38 with a time of 1:36.448 promoting it to quickest in session in LMP2. With one hour left in the session, the positions on the timing screens had begun to crystallise and the only change in the previous half hour was the aforementioned promotion of the #38, pushing the #35 Signatech Alpine and #24 CEFC Manor TRS Racing, to second and third quickest. One thing that had changed over the last hour was the weather. The sunshine slowly went hazy then overcast, followed by a rain warning on the timing screens 'possible shower the next few minutes' followed by 'light rain' and 'WET TRACK' at 16:12. The G-Drive #26 re-emerged from its box and was back on circuit again... just in time for the shower.

Things had seemed to be relatively quiet, right up until 16:20 when Rao in the #36 put the car over the gravel and into the tyres at the outside of the first part of Lesmo (T6) which brought out the red flag. Presumably he had been caught out by the shower which turned out to be a smidgen heavier than the promised 'light rain'.

The #36 was stretchered-off and the tyres put back in order and the session restarted at 16:35 but with a wet track there was no queue at pit exit and the track remained quiet for a few minutes until 16:42 when first Kobayashi and then Nakajima took the two Toyotas (#7 and #8) tentatively back on track, but with no hope of improvement in lap times in the final 15 minutes in the wet. 

The final order for the session overall was #8 #7 #1 #2, the #7 Toyota having demoted the #1 Porsche just before the shower and red flag. In LMP2  the top three times were unchanged in the final hour and the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca was quickest from the #35 Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine A470 second fastest and the #24 CEFC Manor TRS Racing Oreca third. In GTE Pro it was the Ford GT #67 that set the fastest time from the second Ford GT #66 and the #91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. In GTE Am the #61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 488 GTE set the quickest time with #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE second and #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 RSR (991) third.

You can find complete timing and classification HERE

Dave DAVIES.

FIA WEC 2017 - Monza Prologue Diary: Sunday morning

Sunday morning started even more grey and drizzly than yesterday but perked-up fairly quickly. Here are the notes from session four on the slowly drying Monza circuit.

There was sad news for fans of the ByKolles CLM #4 that made a brief appearance on Saturday night. The team declared on Sunday morning that they would not be able to participate. We suspect this is due to the ongoing problems with the rear wing they experienced in session 3.

The fourth session of the Prologue kicked off at 9:00. Bamber in Porsche #2 was first in the queue at pit exit when the lights turned green. Most teams seemed to be opting for intermediates. The track was mostly dry but the grass and Astroturf areas remained wet and drivers were warned to stay on the black stuff and apart from a very few minor exceptions they behaved themselves. Nakajima set off at a brisk pace in the #8 Toyota, setting an early time of 1:43.790 in the cool and 'mildly moist' conditions. He continued to improve with a lap of 1:41.104 at about 9:20 and 1:39.843 at 9:30, making him the first driver under 1:40 at that point. The next driver under 1:40 was Jani in Porsche #1 1:39.658. On a drying circuit Bamber then went quickest in the #2 Porsche at 9:39 with a lap of 1:39.536. then improved to 1:39.447 and thence to 1:38.701 at 9:43.

The half hour point hierarchy in LMP2 was the #24 CEFC Manor with the best time of 1:50.410 followed by the #36 and #35 Signatech Alpine Orecas. In GTE Pro it was the #95 Aston Martin at the top of the class followed by the Ford GTs #67 and #66. Only two GTE Am cars at set flying lap times in the first 30 minutes, the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche and #86 Gulf Racing Porsche.

During the following half hour of drying out and warming up, the top times improved dramatically with Jani the first under 1:38 then Davidson in Toyota #8 and Bamber in Porsche #2. By 9:58 Bamber had brought the target down to 1:34.910 then on the stroke of the 1 hour point he went under 1:34 with a lap of 1:33.807. The top 3 order in LMP2 remained relatively stable with just the Signatech Alpines #35 and #36 switching places.  All change however in GTE Pro at 1 hour with the #67 Ford GT fastest (1:49.962) from #51 AF Corse Ferrari and the sister Ford GT #66. 

In the following minutes the LMP1 cars gradually approached just 1 second off their Saturday dry pace. Jani in Porsche #1 was the first under 1:33 at 10:08 with a time of 1:32.942. He improved that to 1:32.560 at 10:19 but then Bamber in Porsche #2 reclaimed the top spot a couple of minutes later with a 1:32.510. Jani responded with a 1:32.494 at 10:24 then improved to 1:32.020 at 10:30.

At the 90 minute mark, it was the two Porsche #1 and #2 quickest from Toyota #8. At that stage the pace was matching the times seen in session 1 on Saturday. The #35 Signatech Alpine had taken charge of LMP2 from Vaillante Rebellion #13 second quickest and the Signatech Alpine #36 third. The #66 Ford GT held the best time in GTE Pro, followed by Porsche #92 and #91. In GTE Am at 10:30 still only the Dempsey-Proton Porsche #77 and #86 Gulf Racing Porsche #86 had set times. 

At 10:43 Jani in Porsche #1 was reported as going slowly at Ascari. He made his way back to the pit lane with what we suspect was a tyre problem. At any rate, Lotterer took over the #1 and rejoined at 10:51. By that time, all cars had been seen on circuit (not all with a flying lap) except of course for the unfortunate ByKolles #4 as mentioned above.

On the approach to the two hour mark, the #31 Vaillante Rebellion was in its pit garage with a suspected engine problem, and at 10:57 there was a very brief FCY for debris removal at Rettifilio (T1). At 11:00 the top positions in LMP1 were unchanged (#1,#2,#8,#7) but the Vaillante Rebellion #13 had claimed the fastest time in LMP2 from sister car #31 and #26 G-Drive. In GTE Pro Christensen put the #92 Porsche quickest followed by the Ford GT #67 and #68. In GTE Am Lamy set the fastest lap for the Aston Martin #98 followed by #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche and #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari.

At 11:09 Senna took the #31 Vaillante Rebellion back out after its short garage interlude. At 11:11 Christensen in Porsche #92 set a time of 1:47.545 keeping it at the top of the GTE Pro order. Molina in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari set the fastest time thus far for the weekend in GTE Am with a lap of 1:49.843 at 11:15. At 11:17 Rusinov promoted the #26 G-Drive to the top of LMP2 with a time of 1:36.456. At 11:20 Estre edged-out Christensen's time in the #92 Porsche by a few thousandths with a lap of 1:47.541 then improved that to 1:47.507 at 11:30.

As we went into the final 30 minutes of session 4, the order in LMP1 was unchanged (#1,#2,#8,#7) but in LMP2 as mentioned above, Rusinov put the #26 G-Drive ahead of the #13 Vaillante Rebellion and #28 TDS Racing Oreca. In GTE Pro #92 Porsche remained in charge thanks to Estre with the #67 Ford GT and sister Porsche #91 in 2nd and 3rd place respectively on the timing screens. In GTE Am the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari retained the top time thanks to Molina's sub 1:50 time earlier. The #86 Gulf Racing Porsche and #98 Aston Martin had set the second and third fastest Am times at that point.

At 11:41 Vaxiviere did a lap in 1:36.078 in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca propelling the car to the top of LMP2. The #36 Signatech Alpine (Dumas) and #71 AF Corse Ferrari (Rigon) both made short-cuts at T4/T5 in the closing minutes of the session but continued unharmed. 

At the chequered flag, the top LMP1 times remained as they had been for the previous hour with the Porsche #1 fastest from Porsche #2, Toyota #8 and #7. In LMP2 the time of Vaxiviere kept the #28 TDS Racing Oreca fastest in class from #26 G-Drive and #13 Vaillante Rebellion. In GTE Pro, as in LMP1, Porsche took charge with fastest times for #92 and #91, followed by the #67 Ford GT. In GTE Am, the order remained constant with the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari keeping the top time, followed by the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche and #98 Aston Martin.

Full timing and classification can be found HERE

Dave DAVIES

FIA WEC 2017 - Monza Prologue Diary: Saturday evening

The weather we were promised finally arrived just in time to turn the evening session into a puddle jumping contest. Do you have your wellies on? Here come the droppings / jottings / waffle from the third (and rather soggy) session of the WEC Prologue day one.

As the green flag was shown, the 'wet track' warning came up on the monitors. The much anticipated precipitation had finally arrived. At first only the works LMP1 H cars were brave enough to risk the damp conditions while the rest played a waiting game.

At 19:09 the first of the LMP2 cars braved the conditions, Mathias Beche in the #13 Vaillante Rebellion. At this point we could see rain falling and there were damp spots on pit straight.  At 19:15 the only remaining car circulating was the Toyota #7 with Mike Conway at the wheel. Thunder was heard in the pit lane at 19:17 when Conway came into the pit lane.

At 19:22 Dumas left the pits with 'full wet' rubber on the #36 Signatech Alpine. By that time the sky had turned battleship grey and the rain looked like it would be more than just a passing shower. Dumas didn't complete a flying lap. it was then the turn of Hartley in the Porsche 919 Hybrid #2 and Pla in Ford GT #66 to reconnoitre the dampness. Pla did a flying lap about 23 seconds slower than dry laps from earlier sessions. Hartley dived straight back into the pits without setting a time. Davidson then took the #8 Toyota out for a flying lap about 25 seconds slower than a dry lap. At that point we heard that standing water had been reported at Lesmo, although the rain looked like it had eased-up a bit. 

At about 40 minutes into the session, a few more intrepid souls braved the conditions and Davidson's times in the #8 Toyota seemed to be improving marginally which suggested the track may be drying a little.

The general reluctance to play in the puddles at night continued but at 19:46 it seemed the rain had finally stopped. Barker in the Gulf Racing Porsche #86 was the first of the GTE Am grid to go out and set a time. By that time the LMP1 cars were setting times about 18 seconds slower than dry so the indication was that things were improving but we could still see 'rooster tails' on the cars passing us on the pit straight. 

After the first hour of this soggy session only 11 cars had set lap times including all of the LMP1 cars except of course the ByKolles CLM which was still awaiting it's missing part. It looked like the times set on the first couple of laps of the session on a relatively dry circuit would stand until the end, and no improvements were expected. 

At 20:06, Negrao in the #35 Alpine became the 12th competitor to set a lap time. By 20:20 the LMP1 times were about 15 seconds of the dry pace suggesting the track was (slowly) drying out.

The ByKolles mechanics finally located the missing jigsaw piece of the CLM #4 and it made its first appearance on the circuit at 20:27. While the #4 was on its out-lap, Lotterer in the #1 Porsche took the shortcut at Rettifilio (T1 T2) but no harm done. Webb meanwhile brought the CLM straight back into the pit lane without setting a time. Webb however took the ByKolles #4 back out again at 20:40 and finally posted a somewhat modest first flying lap time of 2:17.515.

With only 10 minutes left on the clock, the rain started coming down again with some enthusiasm, which rather put the tin lid on any chance of 'drying'. At 20:54 only Kobayashi in Toyota #7 and Webb in the #4 ByKolles were on the circuit, and when the Toyota came in at 20:56 the CLM had the honour of being the only car on track. Debris was reported on pit straight and our (unconfirmed) suspicion was that it had come off the ByKolles car which came back in the pits leaving an empty track for the last 2 minutes until the chequered flag.

The times for session 3 are a bit inconsequential but for the sake of completeness, Jani in Porsche #1 set the fastest time overall in the opening laps on a dryish circuit, followed by the sister Porsche #2 second and the Toyotas #8 and #7. The Vaillante Rebellion #13 was quickest in LMP2 followed by #36 and #35 Signatech Alpines. The factory Porsche #92 and #91 topped GTE Pro followed by the #66 Ford GT. In GTE Am only the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche set a flying lap time.

Full timing and classification is available HERE

See you tomorrow for Prologue Day 2.

Dave DAVIES

FIA WEC 2017 - Monza Prologue Diary: Saturday Afternoon

Here is the second batch of musings from Monza. Tony says I should give a nod to Jox Jottings by calling it Dave's Droppings but that sounds a bit unsanitary.

The showers we were promised had not turned up when the green flag came out for session two. There was less of a queue at pit exit at the start of the session than earlier and the timing screen took a while to fill up with times. It was not all quiet though. Conway took advantage of the lack of traffic to set two quick times (1.31.570 and 1.31.332) in the opening minutes in Toyota #7, eclipsing the fastest time of the morning set by Jani in the Porsche #1.

Gonzalez beached the #24 Manor at Rettifilio (T1) requiring extraction and a full course yellow (FCY) at 14:24. By 14:30 the car had been craned away and track was green again. The Toyota #7 had remained on top at the half hour point, followed by sister car #8 Toyota and #1 Porsche. In LMP2 the TDS Racing #28 was quickest followed by #36 Alpine and #13 Vaillante Rebellion. In GTE Pro it was #92 Porsche making an appearance at the top of the table followed by the #91 Porsche and #66 Ford GT. In Am the Dempsey Proton Racing #77 was quickest at that point, followed by #61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari and #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari.

By 14:50 it was just beginning to cloud over again with patchy sunshine, however none of the anticipated showers had turned up. All cars had set a time in session 2 apart from the #4 ByKolles CLM which was still resting in pieces in the ByKolles box. Just before the one hour mark, Lotterer in the #1 Porsche split the two Toyotas with a time of 1:32.211. The time set by Conway (1:31.332) in Toyota #7 still stood fastest overall with the #8 Toyota third. In LMP2 the #26 G-Drive had taken top spot with #36 Alpine second and #13 Vaillante Rebellion. No change in GTE Pro (#92,#91,#66) and in GTE Am the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari had been propelled from third to quickest in class, ahead of the #98 Aston Martin and #86 Gulf Racing Porsche.

Just after the one hour point, Matteo Cairoli put in a 1:50.180 to take the Dempsey Proton Racing #77 Porsche into first position in the GTE Am times. Tony took a wander down to the ByKolles box again at about 15:15 to see how they were doing. The car was still in bits and there didn't seem much to suggest they were working on it with a sense of urgency.

At 15:29 the #7 Toyota made took the short cut at Rettifilio (T1-T2) but continued with no harm evident. No change in position at the top of the screen (#7,#1,#8) at that stage and #26 G-Drive remained at the head of LMP2 from #37 Jackie Chan DC racing and #28 TDS Racing. #92 Porsche retained the top of the GTE Pro times from #66 Ford and #91 Porsche. The time set by Matteo Cairoli kept the #77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche at the top of GTE Am followed by #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari and #98 Aston Martin.

At 15:35 Kevin Estre parked the #92 Porsche in the gravel at Ascari which brought on a full course yellow (FCY) followed by a red flag a few minutes later. The car was extracted and made it back to pit lane under its own power. We were back to green flag condition at 15:48. There appeared to be a prototype stopped on the track just downstream of Ascari as the Porsche was extracted but we can't be sure who it was, as they got going again relatively quickly.

With one hour remaining the top three overall was still Porsche #1 as the meat in a Toyota sandwich, #7 - #1 - #8 with the #4 ByKolles still yet to set a time. The #26 G-Drive was demoted to second fastest in LMP2 by the #36 Alpine with the Jackie Chan DC Racing #37 third. No change in GTE Pro at that point (#92,#66,#91) and #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche remained in charge of GTE Am with #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari second and #61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari third.

With 30 minutes remaining in the session, we were still yet to see any rain, and it looked like we could probably get away with a dry day of testing. The top three order in LMP1, LMP2 , GTE Pro and Am had not changed in the previous half hour. Despite retaining the second fastest time, the #26 G-Drive had feverish work being done in the engine bay at 16:35 although Tony pointed out that the work was being done in the pit lane rather than the box so was likely to fall into the category of 'minor adjustments'. They continued to tinker and set the car off for a lap then before bringing it in again for more tweaking.

At 16:44 the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche in the hands of Marvin Dienst, shredded a tyre and was reported as going slowly at Ascari. The car limped back to the pit lane and was pushed into its box. At 16:58 Petrov in the #24 CEFC Manor TRS Racing Oreca had a spin at the exit of Rettifilio (T2) and continued with no damage evident.

Just as he took the chequered flag at 17:00, Nakajima improved the #8 Toyota to 2nd fastest with a lap of 1:32.062, so at the end of the session it was #7 Toyota from #8 Toyota, Porsche #2 and Porsche #1. In LMP2, the #36 Alpine held the fastest time. There was also a late improvement for #24 CEFC Manor TDS car, putting it second in class ahead of the #26 G-Drive. In GTE Pro, there were no last minute fireworks and the order remained the same with the #92 Porsche quickest ahead of the #66 Ford and #91 Porsche. In GTE Am it was Barker who put in a time of 1:50.035 in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche to propel it to quickest in class #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche and #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Despite the gathering grey clouds towards the end, the session was dry.

One of the ByKolles mechanics (possibly Phil) was seen emerging briefly, groundhog style, from his pit garage. We don't know if he saw his shadow or not so we are uncertain if the prognostication is for the #4 to take part in the evening session or not.

Full timing results are HERE

Dave DAVIES