Toyota returned to the top of the FIA WEC timesheets in the second practice session at Spa Francorchamps.
It was the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel that topped the times with a 2:19.483, some 1.3 seconds ahead of the sister #7 machine.
SMP continued its strong pace with Vitaly Petrov steering the #11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1-AER to third, just 0.6 behind the second Toyota, underlying their pace shown in Practice 1.
The rain started to fall heavily just before the session began and fell throughout. The temperatures also dropped, with the ambient temperature falling sharply from 14 to 9 degrees by the end of the session.
The conditions caught out Stéphane Sarrazin in the #17 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1-AER who reportedly lost the car in the wet at Blanchimont, backing the car into the barriers and ending its participation in the session. The car suffered significant damage to one of its corners and had to be returned to the team on a flatbed. Thankfully, Sarrazin climbed out under his own power and is ‘ok’ after the impact.
Early in the session, the privateer entries were on the pace with both the #11 SMP Racing entry and the #4 ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01-Gibson enjoying times at the top of the sheets before normal service was resumed.
DragonSpeed and Pastor Maldonado topped the times in LMP2 with a time of 2:27.682 with their ORECA 07 Gibson, 1.6 seconds ahead of TDS Racing and a further tenth ahead of the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA.
There was also an issue for the #50 Labre Ligier JS P217 Gibson which had an off during the session at La Source and ended up slowest in the class.
In GTE Pro, Marco Sorensen and Aston Martin continued to set fast times, even in the wet. After topping the first practice session, the Aston Martin Vantage AMR set a time of 2:32.648, ahead of the #91 Porsche 911 RSR which was a just over two tenths off.
In third, just 0.019 behind the Porsche, was the other Aston Martin with the first Ferrari, the #71 AF Corse 488 GTE EVO, in fourth, 0.4 off the class lead.
The #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR went fastest in GTE Am, with Matt Campbell setting a lap time of 2:34.093. It was ahead of the #70 MR Racing Ferrari who was 0.75 slower and the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche in third.
While the #70 Ferrari set a strong time, it is being hauled in front of the stewards for multiple transgressions during the session, the car was called for speeding in the pitlane, dangerous driving at Turn 1 and not respecting instructions during the driver’s briefing.
The session was red flagged in the final minute as the rain became heavier. At that time the Signatech Alpine A470 of Pierre Thiriet aquaplaned off the circuit at Fagnes and grazed the barriers.
Practice 3 for the FIA WEC gets underway at 11 am local time on Friday.
