The second test session of the 2025 FIA WEC Prologue at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar was highly encouraging for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA. The new effort ended up occupying first and second on the timing screens with its handsomely-liveried V-Series.Rs.
The best time under the floodlights in the cooler temperatures was a 1:39.575 set by Alex Lynn in the #12 during a six-lap Qualifying sim on Medium tyres. It was significantly quicker than the 1:41.673 that Robert Kubica topped the opening session with earlier in the day for AF Corse.
“All of us working together for the first time generally has worked really well so far,” Lynn’s teammate Will Stevens said.
“I think we had a positive start to the week. We rolled off the truck with a good racecar and I feel quite comfortable with everything we have at the moment. It’s still early in the race week.
“We have a lot of things we want to cover in the Prologue and then we have time before next week starts for us to go in and analyze everything. The six of us are giving similar feedback and that’s a positive point that we’re going to push in the same direction.”
Meanwhile, in the sister #38 JOTA Cadillac, Sebastien Bourdais – who was also tasked with completing Qualifying simulations – set a 1:39.788 on his second run to go second.
Third on the screens at the end of the night was the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Antonio Fuoco also dipped into the 1:39s and was just two-tenths off the benchmark time during a qualifying sim of his own.
Further down the order the fastest Penske Porsche – the #5 – ended up fourth, while the #83 499P from AF Corse took fifth. The quickest Toyota ended up in the top 10, sitting eighth and marginally faster than the two Peugeots which sat ninth and 10th after completing some impressive long runs.
The #93 9X8 of Jean-Eric Vergne completed a notable 32-lap stint, followed by a 33-lap run on the same set of hard tyres. The #94, which ended up 10th, went on a slightly different programme, with Stoffel Vandoorne going on a six-lap run, then a 32-lap run, then a 28-lap run, all on the same set of medium Michelins.
On the other side of the coin, the #6 Porsche Penske 963, following an engine change, completed no stints longer than 10 laps and would set the seventh-fastest time.
It was another productive outing for the Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries. They didn’t light up the times, but did complete a combined total of 174 tours of the Qatar circuit, with the best times 2.7 and 3.4 seconds off.
LMGT3 saw AKKODIS ASP lead TF Sport again, but this time it was the the #87 Lexus RC F LMGT3 rather than the #78 that set the benchmark time. Jose Maria Lopez set the car’s 1:54.959, the only lap under 1:55.
The #33 Corvette slotted in second again, with a 1:55.132 from Daniel Juncadella. Vista AF Corse’s Ferraris claimed third and fourth, both within two-hundredths of Juncadella’s lap.
The fastest Session 1 time from Ben Barnicoat – a 1:55.862 – was bettered by the top 10 cars in the class as the track continued to rubber in. The top eight cars came from four manufacturers, the two Lexus, the two Corvettes, two Ferraris and the two McLarens.
Only one car missed out on the action, the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3. This is the car that suffered a major fire during the afternoon with Ben Tuck at the wheel.
The car has been stripped down in the garage and appears to be unlikely to take part in tomorrow’s track action while the team assesses the fire damage and, hopefully, rebuilds it. The target, according to a team source, is for the car to be back out for Free Practice 1 on Wednesday.
It was a tough session for Proton as a whole. The sister Mustang sat out the early part of the session, along with the team’s Hypercar class Porsche 963. The #88 Ford completed 32 laps, while the #99 toured the track 48 times, both the lowest totals in their respective categories.
The Prologue continues tomorrow with a three-hour session starting at 12:00 local time.
