HERTZ Team JOTA’s #12 Porsche 963 ran fastest in the first three-hour session of the delayed 2024 FIA WEC Prologue in Qatar. Norman Nato set the pace, with a best time of 1:41.822 during his 29 laps in the car.
It was a quiet three hours on track. Due to the timetable revisions and delays caused by the freight issues last week, all teams were given the choice of running in either the opening session today or the fourth session tomorrow. This decision was made to give the teams with cars and equipment delivered late more time to prepare.
As a result, only 10 of the 37 cars elected to run in the first session, and only nine of those made it out.
JOTA’s pair of 963s topped the times, though only three Hypercars took to the track. The other car that made use of the session was the #11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C, which set a 1:45.928 best time, four seconds off the #12 and 2.7 seconds off the #38 JOTA Porsche that slotted in second.
Of the three cars, the #12 completed the most laps, 61. Isotta meanwhile, could only manage 22. The car registered a gearbox alarm, so the team opted for a full systems check. It returned to the track in the final hour after around a 40-minute delay in the garage.
Duqueine team owner Gilles Duqueine told DSC that he was pleasantly surprised with the best time from Jean-Karl Vernay in the session, with the team so far having completed no set-up work.
The car that didn’t set a time but was expected to go out, was the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
In LMGT3, six cars – all of which arrived at the circuit on time last week – made it out, with the TF Sport Corvettes, United Autosports McLarens and Lamborghinis from Iron Lynx and Iron Dames setting times.
The quickest of the six was the #59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO from United, with Brazilian racer Nicolas Costa topping the times in his first public appearance with the team. His best tour of the Lusail circuit was a 1:56.583 during the car’s 57-lap stint.
The #59 didn’t complete the most laps though, that title went to the #82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R, which crossed the line 79 times in anger. It was a hugely valuable session for the British team, which in only its second test with its Z06s completed 132 laps across both its cars.
Its #81 Corvette was up to speed too, within a tenth of Costa’s time in second. The #95 United McLaren, which completed the fewest laps (39), ended up third.
Testing continues with the second session (open to all cars) at 18:00 this evening. It’s a 300-minute open test running into the night.
