Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA was fastest in a close Free Practice 3 this morning at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, ahead of qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa this afternoon.
Will Stevens set a 2:02.379 aboard the #12 V-Series.R during his qualifying sim at the start of the session, surpassing AF Corse’s Robert Kubica by only 0.023 seconds for the top spot. But Stevens’ tour wasn’t the fastest of the event so far, that accolade goes to Alpine’s Jules Gounon yesterday, who set a 2:01.816 in Free Practice 2.
Kubica’s #83 Ferrari 499P held onto second, as, notably, Kubica and the #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi started their push laps one lap before the rest of the Hypercar field, as teams figure out the best way to
Harry Tincknell put the #007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in third, 0.090 seconds off Stevens, with Jack Aitken fourth in the #38 Cadillac.
Giovinazzi ended up fifth, ahead the sister #50 Ferrari, which completed the most laps.
The pair of French marques completed the top 10, with the #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 heading the #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424, #94 Peugeot and #36 Alpine.
It was a strong showing from Genesis Magma Racing, with Mathieu Jaminet placing the #19 GMR-001 in 11th with a 2:03.104, whilst Toyota Racing again failed to factor in the top 10 with the best of its TR010 Hybrids 13th.
In LMGT3, Garage 59 rebounded from a difficult Thursday to finish this morning 1-2 with its pair of McLaren LMGT3 Evos.
Defending Spa pole sitter Finn Gehrsitz set a 2:17.068 in the #58 McLaren, with his teammate Tom Fleming coming up just 0.004 seconds short in the #58 entry.
Simon Mann was third fastest in the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo, ahead of Hadrien David’s #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3.
The #92 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 was fifth fastest, but also missed the end of the session after Richard Lietz pulled off the circuit at Turn 8 with 13 minutes to go, which brought out the most significant of three Full Course Yellows.
The other FCYs were both brief, and caused by the need to collect debris from Eau Rouge and Pouhon, respectively.
With Free Practice now complete, the focus turns to qualifying, which will begin at 14:30 CEST this afternoon.
