Daniel Juncadella set a new benchmark time in LMP2 during ELMS Free Practice 2 today at Imola, with a 1:31.426 in the #18 Genesis-backed IDEC Sport ORECA 07 Gibson.
The Spaniard’s time is the fastest of the week so far and came early in the session, before Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert took over the championship-leading car for long runs ahead of the race.
“We made some good changes overnight and the car felt great,” Juncadella, who will take the wheel of the #18 in Qualifying for the first time this season later today, said.
“It was a cool lap and a lot of fun, hopefully we can repeat that in Qualifying. The dream is to be on pole, and we will work for that as it’s very important at Imola to get a good starting position. I feel confident.”
Pietro Fittipaldi came close to dethroning Juncadella in the Vector Sport ORECA, with a 1:31.482. The sister IDEC car ended up third and within two tenths with a 1:31.579 from Job van Uitert.
The fastest ORECA in LMP2 Pro/Am was the #20 from Algarve Pro Racing. Alex Quinn set the hot lap – a 1:32.028 – to go ninth overall in the times. TDS Racing’s #29 car and the Le Mans-winning #99 AO by TF squad took second and third, respectively.
Reece Gold paced the field in LMP3 for Inter Europol Competition. The #88 Ligier JS P325, which was one of a number of cars that had an off into the gravel, would finish with a 1:40.160.
It was the fastest of three cars to set 1:40.1s in the category. The other two were the #17 CLX and #11 Eurointernational Ligiers.
In LMGT3, it was the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage that set the quickest lap. Valentin Hasse Clot’s 1:42.141 was comfortably faster than Charlie Eastwood’s flyer from FP1 yesterday and is the quickest ever LMGT3 lap time in the ELMS at this circuit.
Five of the six manufacturers in the class ended up in the top five with times within seven and a half tenths of each other.
Kessel Racing’s #57 296 GT3 placed Ferrari second, while Iron Lynx, United Autosports and TF Sport put Mercedes-AMG, McLaren and Corvette in the mix, with times good enough for third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
There were two red flags in the session, with the second coming right at the end after an off for DKR’s #3 Ginetta.
ELMS track action continues later this afternoon with Qualifying at 14:30 local time.
