The weather forecast today for final Free Practice session and Qualifying is somewhat mixed with a huge black cloud approaching the circuit as we arrived at breakfast time today. Porsche though tell us that their current forecast suggests just a 30% chance of rain for FP3 at 10am local.
Good news from Toyota is that the #6 TS050, damaged in the Collective Test on Thursday after Stephane Sarrazin hit the pit wall, is ready to go this morning, the team wheeling the car to Scrutineering around 30 minutes ago and expecting to be on track for FP3 after rebuilding the car around the team’s spare chassis.
AF Corse meanwhile, is still somewhat perplexed about the down-on-power #83 Ferrari 458 which leads the Am championship, the car apparently further down on ponies than was expected even at this altitude.
Amongst the notable individuals spotted on site yesterday were 2015 WEC LMP2 Champion (and 2016 ELMS driver) Julien Canal, ex-Aston Martin racing factory driver Adrien Fernandez, and fellow Mexican racing star Michel Jourdain Jr.
Of the drivers here that have raced before at this facility are Andre Lotterer, the Audi star had a one-off run in the final race of the 2002, ChampCar season finishing 12th for Dale Coyne Racing
The complex that surrounds the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a national centre for Mexican sporting excellence with a facility on site that hosts an exhibition celebrating every Mexican Olympic medallist.
Manor has its second car here this weekend and have fixed a fault that proved problematic in yesterday’s Free Practice sessions, the car’s gearbox intermittently failing to select gear on a number of occasions. The team has now both traced the fault and heard from other competitors that this is not the first time it has occurred. The issue did reduce track time for the #44 but not enough to prevent Richard Bradley from posting the fastest time in Free Practice 1 and the third fastest in FP2.
