It was again a sunny afternoon in Provence with track temperatures rising steadily.
In LMP1, the session started on a high note with Brendon Hartley benefiting from a clear track and clocking 1:37.445 – nearly a one tenth improvement on the fastest LMP1 lap set Friday night by team mate Neel Jani on Porsche #2. Toyota did not improve its fastest lap time set last night with 1:38.347. After a difficult Friday evening, the Audi of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer improved their fastest lap time with a 1:38.827, some 1.4 second behind the fastest Porsche.
The fastest non hybrid car of the Prologue was Rebellion #13 of Alex Imperatori, Matheo Tuscher and Dominik Kraihamer. It set its fastest lap time of 1:41.733 during this afternoon’s session. It remains 4.4 seconds behind leading Porsche #1 of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley.
The fastest lap time set yesterday by the Gibson #42 of Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane (1:46.976) remained unchallenged. #26 G-Drive Ligier of Roman Rusinov, Nathanael Berthon and Rene Rast set the fastest time in the afternoon session with a fastest lap of 1:47.024 ahead #37 SMP Racing and #36 Alpine.
The fastest lap time set yesterday by Gianmaria Bruni on Ferrari #51 (1:57.808) remained unchallenged. The quickest of the afternoon session was set by the #67 Ganassi Ford, a 1:58.786 ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari #71 of Davide Rigon with a 1:59.034.
Francois Perrodo was fastest in the early part of the session. The Frenchman was asked by race officials to respect track limits on several occasions. He was eventually black and white flagged. Towards the end of the second hour, Michael Wainwright on Porsche #86 took the lead of the afternoon session with a fastest lap of 1:59.248.
The fastest lap set yesterday by Larbre Competition Corvette #50 of Yutaka Yamagishi, Pierre Ragues and Paolo Ruberti (1:58.268) remained the quickest of the event.
Mat Fernandez
