The #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid continued its stranglehold of the top spot in LMP1 with a 1:56.369 by Kamui Kobayashi at the end of FP2. His time was second quicker than his teammate Mike Conway’s fastest time earlier this morning at Spa-Francorchamps in Free Practice 1.
Behind, the best of the other LMP1 runners was the #2 Porsche 919 of Timo Bernhard, the German managing to lap the circuit in 1:56.874. While his tour is the fastest Porsche time of the weekend so far, it was half a second off Kobayashi.
The #1 Porsche ended up third fastest with the other two Toyota TS050s fourth and fifth for the second consecutive session. On this occasion the #9 – which was once again fifth – was 2.1 seconds off Kobayashi’s best time with a 1:58.494.
Down in the LMP2 ranks CEFC Manor TRS Racing’s continued improvement saw the team’s Orecas sit 1-2 in the class at the end of the session. Jean-Eric Vergne and Vitaly Petrov set the two car’s quickest times, with Vergne the quicker of the two with a 2:02.662 to give the #24 crew the bragging rights.
Gustavo Menezes meanwhile continued to lap fastest in the #36 Signatech Alpine A470, with the American bettering his 2:04.171 with a 2:03.772 to put the reigning champions third.
GTE Pro also saw a surprise front runner. After struggling for pace throughout the weekend at Silverstone and during FP1 today, Aston Martin Racing set the quickest time in the hotly-contested factory GTE class.
The best time of the session was set by GTE Pro Drivers’ World Champion Marco Sorensen in the #95, with a 2:16.458 in the closing minutes. His lap in the end was a second faster than any of the other five AMR drivers across the two Pro Vantages.
Second was taken by the #92 Porsche of Kevin Estre. It wasn’t plain sailing for the crew however, with Estre crashing out at Les Combes midway through the session just after setting the class’ best time – a 2:16.720. Estre has been confirmed as ok, though the damaged 911 RSR had to be taken back to the pit lane on a flatbed.
The #67 Ford GT ended the session with the third best time, a 2:17.213 by Harry Tincknell, the team off to a fast start after its victory at Silverstone, with Andy Priaulx lapping fastest in the class during FP1.
GTE Am saw Spirit of Race go top courtesy of Spaniard Miguel Molina, who’s best time was a 2:17.806, just a tenth faster than the team’s nearest rivals in the #98 Aston Martin. A 2:18.542 by Matteo Cairoli put the Dempsey Proton Porsche third.
In addition to the red flag for Estre’s off, there was a second stoppage in the final minutes, when David Heinemeier Hansson in the #13 Vaillante Rebellion got stuck on the grass after a spin and needed to be recovered.
Free Practice 3 tomorrow is set to get underway at 10:25am local time in Belgium.
