ELMS 2017 - 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: Hirschi (Graff) and Hirakawa (G-Drive) fastest in free practice

A delayed second practice session this morning due to the fog hanging over Spa-Francorchamps. That didn't stop Ryo Hirakawa from scoring the fastest lap in the second free practice session.  

Hirakawa, who returns to the ELMS after missing out the last 2 races due to his commitments in the Japanese Super GT championship, set a time of 2.03.058 which was 0.521 seconds faster than Richard Bradley in the #40 Graff Racing Oreca. Third fastest this morning was Filipe Albuquerque in the #32 United Autosports Ligier in 2.03.605. Enzo Guibbert in the #39 Graff Oreca and Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed. 

Wayne Boyd was quickest in LMP3, putting down a 2.15.781 in his #3 United Autosports Ligier. Jakub Smiechowski who took second place at Le Castellet last month was 1.492 seconds slower than Boyd in second place in his #13 Inter Europol Competion Ligier. Third fastest was Andres Mendez in the colourful #10 Oregon Team Norma in 2.17.327, just 0.054 seconds behind Mendez, despite having an off early in the session and losing oil later on.

In LMGTE it's championship leaders TF Sport who were fastest this morning, Nicki Thiim posting a 2.17.901. Will Stevens is starting to find his way again in the JMW Ferrari, setting the second fastest time, but already just over a second slower than Thiim (2.18.951).  Rounding out the top 3 this morning was Andrea Bertolini in the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari.

The first practice session yesterday afternoon was led by Jonathan Hirschi in the #39 Graff Oreca 07.  Hirschi didn't miss his debut with the French team and set a laptime of 2.04.796.  Second fastest was Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca, just 0.036 second behind the Swiss driver.  Hufo de Sadeleer in the #32 United Autoports Ligier was third fastest in  2:05.405, almost a second behind Hirschi.  

Rounding out the top 5 were Nathanaël Berthon in the #28 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier and Andrea Belicchi in the # 47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara. By the end of the session, James Allen in the second Graff set the fastest time,, but saw his time deleted due to a pitlane infringement (speeding).  The first practice session was red flagged in the final minutes when Paul Lafargue stopped on track at Les Combes in his #28 IDEC Sport Ligier. 

Mikkel Jensen in the #9 AT Racing Ligier JSP3 set the pace in the LMP3 class with a time of 2.15.004. Jesnen left both United Autosports car behind him; Wayne Boyd was second fastest in the #3 (2.15.335), Sean Rayhall in the #2 (2.15.485). The top 5 in class were all Ligiers with the #15 RLR Msport fifth fastest and the #6 360 Racing completing the top 5. Although Spa should be in favour of the Norma's with their high top speed on the long straights, the first Norma M30 in the classification was the #7 Duquiene Engineering of Antonin Borga in 2.16.635 which was 1.631 second off the pace of Mikkel Jensen. 

In LMGTE Matteo Cairoli was flying in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche, demolishing all other contenders with a 2.17.888.  No one came near the Italians time, Darren Turner was second fastest in the #99 Beechdean Aston Martin in 2.20.292, which is 2.4 seconds behind Cairoli. Third fastest was the championship leading #90 Aston of Nicki Thiim, who set a 2.21.096.

Free practice 1 results
Free practice 2 results

Kristof Vermeulen. 

ELMS 2017 - 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: Friday gallery

More pictures available here:


Photo credits:
Kristof Vermeulen
Erik Junius

FIA WEC launches their global fan survey: "Have your say on the future of the WEC"

The WEC Global Fan Survey launches today with the aim of getting motorsport fans throughout the world to give their views on a comprehensive range of subjects concerning the WEC and endurance racing.

The championship is looking for a minimum of 50,000 views so get clicking NOW to help shape the future of the WEC! The championship has joined forces with Motorsport Network and Nielsen Sports for the management of the survey, and fans will be able to complete it in any of 10 different languages by clicking here: https://wecsurvey.motorsport.com/.

The results of the survey will help shape the future of the world sportscar championship, starting from the 2019/2020 season and into the future. “We want to hear from the fans,” said FIA World Endurance Championship CEO, Gérard Neveu. “Echoing the values and attitudes led by Jean Todt, President of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), and Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest), this has always been our philosophy and we want them to have their say about the future of the WEC. “We will have all the different topics – calendar, regulations, entertainment, all the sport’s components – and we want fans around the world to give us their opinion to help shape the sport for the future. “We have provided a stage for fans to tell us in their words what they love, how they feel and what they want to see in the future from sportscars.

Before we take any decisions on the 2019/20 season, we want the opinions of our global fan base to help guide us in our decision making. We will announce the result and a summary of the survey in Bahrain at the last race of the 2017 season. “The FIA WEC – in conjunction with the ACO and the FIA – have some important decisions to make in the near future and this survey will provide us with the solid foundation of global fan data on which we can base our decisions.” The FIA WEC recently announced a number of changes to the championship including a switch to a winter calendar and a transitional “super season” which will begin at next year’s WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and conclude at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“We are delighted that the FIA WEC has awarded this invaluable fan research study to Motorsport Network", Motorsport.com editor-in-chief, Charles Bradley said. “Our network reaches millions of race fans every month through our major titles including Motorsport.com, Autosport.com and Motor1.com. We believe that combining our global audience with proven research expertise gained through our previous global studies positions us the ideal partner to capture, collate and analyse key fan data for the championship. “The championship is able to gather key insights from the manufacturers, the teams and drivers on a regular basis, but it is the fans that attend the races and watch on television who will now also have a voice in what the future of sportscar racing will look like.”