As the temperatures continued to climb in Austin, BMW M Team WRT turned up the pace during Free Practice 2 for the WEC Lone Star Le Mans at COTA.
Either of WRT’s BMW M Hybrid V8s had a claim to the fastest time, but it officially belongs in the ledger of the Shell-sponsored #20 BMW and driver Sheldon van der Linde. The South African set the fastest official lap of the session at 1:51.946; he was the first driver to surpass the one minute, 52 second barrier today.
Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW went quicker soon after, posting a 1:51.816 – but his time was deleted for a track limits infringement. As it played out, the blue, red, and white BMW only finished 13th in the Hypercar class.
Antonio Giovinazzi was second-fastest aboard the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P with a lap of 1:52.407, only half a tenth up on the #009 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie of Alex Riberas in third.
Kévin Estre was fourth in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 (1:52.697), then Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari (1:52.746) completed the top five ahead of the #5 Penske Porsche of Julien Andlauer (1:52.921).
Harry Tincknell was seventh-quickest in the #007 Aston Martin, keeping the strong results going for the V12-powered Valkyrie.
The #50 Ferrari, #7 Toyota GR010–Hybrid, and #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R completed the top ten in Hypercar.
In LMGT3, United Autosports’ McLaren LMGT3 Evos finished first and fourth, and on top was the #95 driven by Silver-graded Indonesian Sean Gelael. In a potential preview for tomorrow’s Hyperpole qualifying session, the top six times in the class were set by Silver drivers.
Gelael’s best lap of 2:06.545 was less than a tenth quicker than a strong second-place effort from Rahel Frey in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 LMGT3 R (2:06.635).
The two Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3s also showed solid one-lap pace, led by the #88 Ford of Giammarco Levorato in third (2:06.853).
Behind them was the #59 United McLaren of Sébastien Baud in fourth, then Finn Gehrsitz in the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 in fifth, and the #77 Proton Ford of Bernardo Sousa.
Iron Lynx’s Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 EVOs were seventh and eighth, with the #61 ahead of the #60. Notably, it was Bronze driver Martin Berry who set the #61’s best time (2:07.306)!
Compared to FP1 which was interrupted by four red flags, FP2 was briefly disrupted by a Full Course Yellow to removed the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 after it had stopped on course in sector two
The #10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin did not run after Derek DeBoer’s crash in FP1, the car was still undergoing chassis repairs which would not allow it to take part in FP2.
In addition, the #81 TF Sport Corvette spent most of the session in the garage; the car suffered a right front suspension problem at the very end of FP1, after it went second-quickest behind the #33 Corvette. The car was still able to turn 12 laps and go 12th-fastest, but not before the car broke down again at turn 13, bringing out a red flag to end the session with less than three minutes to go.
Free Practice 3 for the 6 Hours of COTA starts tomorrow at 11:00 AM CT (local time).
Images © FIA WEC / DPPI
