Toyota Gazoo Racing’s TS050 HYBRIDs ended the 2019 FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue at the top of the timesheets, after improving their best times in the final session of Day 2.
Jose Maria Lopez ran fastest, driving the #7 TS050 HYBRID. The Argentinian set a 1:29.141 to better Kazuki Nakajima’s best effort in the #8 which ended up second in the combined rankings and in the fourth and final session.
The privateers though, despite Toyota’s improvements, were close behind. The six LMP1s all lapped within 1.1 seconds of one another. Both Rebellion Racing’s R-13s and Team LNT’s Ginettas both set very encouraging times as the track temperature cooled down towards the end of today.
Best of the privateers was Gustavo Menezes in the #1 Rebellion, the American setting a 1:29.408 to go third in the combined rankings. The #6 Team LNT G60-LT-P1 ended up fourth, F2 star Luca Ghiotto setting a 1:29.697, a real achievement considering he had no LMP experience prior to this week.
The #3 Rebellion ended up fifth with the #5 LNT Ginetta sixth.
In LMP2, Racing Team Nederland’s Nyck de Vries emerged as the fastest driver in the Dutch team’s new ORECA 07 Gibson. RTN was in the news today, after declaring that it has chosen Michelin as its tyre partner following back-to-back runs on Tuesday in which it also sampled Goodyear’s offering.
De Vries’ 1:31.659 not only put RTN atop the times but Michelin too with his lap during the afternoon today. Paul Di Resta came closest in United Autosports’ new ORECA, the Scotsman posting a 1:31.716. Signatech Alpine made it a 1-2-3 for both ORECA and Michelin with a time within two-tenths of the ultimate best.
Fastest of the Goodyear runners was the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing example, Will Stevens setting a 1:33.383 to put the Chinese-flagged, Jota-run team fifth in the combined times.
Like in LMP1 and 2, GTE Pro’s best times also came at the end of Day 2. Miguel Molina was the pacesetter in Spain, with a 1:43.593, 0.058 quicker than Kevin Estre in the first of the two new Porsche 911 RSR 19s.
Porsche managed to complete a total of 362 laps with its new chassis and 1685 km during the two days.
“Although the break after Le Mans was short, we were all excited to meet our rivals in the 2019/20 season,” said Pascal Zurlinden, the head of the programme.
“Our whole team quickly got used to the new Porsche 911 RSR. We worked on the finer points of the setup here in Barcelona and we feel ready for the first race at Silverstone.”
The single Aston Martin Vantage AMR ended up 1.3 seconds off the pace, Marco Sorensen’s 1:44.953 today the British team’s best.
Times matter little at this stage, especially as the Barcelona circuit doesn’t feature on the calendar beyond the prologue, and because the temperatures trackside were scorching. Factory driver Alex Lynn told DSC that the chance to keep the post-Le Mans momentum up and sample the 2019 Michelin rubber were the major benefits of the trip to Spain.
Project 1 paced the field in GTE Am, Matteo Cairoli in the #57 911 the quickest of the German team’s stable of drivers. His 1:44.467 was half a tenth faster than Thomas Preining who put the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche second with a 1:44.523.
The #54 AF Corse Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella ended up fifth in the combined rankings, and first of the 488s, the Italian setting a time six tenths off the top Porsche.
Gulf Racing’s Ben Barker was one of the drivers to lap quicker than Fisichella, the Briton putting the #86 Porsche fifth. He told DSC during the day that the 2019 Michelins the team has sampled this week have shown real promise.
Aside from the temperature drop during the afternoon running, the lack of cars hitting the track was a factor in the times tumbling. Just 14 of the 30 cars on the entry set times during the final session.
Featured image courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing/James Moy
