Toyota topped the afternoon session with the #7 shared by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez setting a fastest lap of 3:29.896. The #708 Glickenhaus Racing driven by Olivier Pla, Romain Dumas and Pipo Derani is three tenths behind the leading Hypercar (3:30.104) while the other Toyota, the #8 Toyota shared by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa is third, a half second behind the sister car (3:30.822). The Alpine A480 Gibson driven by André Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere finished seventh overall, some two and a half seconds behind the fastest Toyota (3:32.420).
The session was red-flagged with just seconds remaining after a seemingly harmless ‘off’ at Mulsanne Corner for the #7, Lopez completing a circuit of the roundabout and rejoining to pit under the red Flag.
Romain Dumas took the lead of the category in the #708 Glickenhaus 007 LMH (3:30.104), some thirty minutes into this afternoon’s free practice session and improved the category’s fastest lap time by a full 1.5 seconds. The two Toyotas and the two Glickenhaus then locked the top four Hypercar positions most of the afternoon while the #36 Alpine A480 Gibson laid further back in the ranks with as fast a pace as the best LMP2s.
Then nearly 90 minutes before the end of the session, Jose Maria Lopez snatched the first and only sub 3’30 lap of the weekend in the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid (3:29.896). The Argentinian kept the lead of the time sheets until the end of the session.
Meanwhile in LMP2, the #22 United Autosport Oreca 07 shared by Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Will Owen was fastest in the hands of the Portuguese star (3:32.099), nearly three tenths ahead of the #38 Jota Oreca 07 Gibson shared by Roberto Gonzalez, Antonio Felix Da Costa and Will Stevens (3:32.382) and eight tenths ahead of the #22 sister car driven by Alexander Lynn, Oli Jarvis and Joshua Pierson (3:32.879)
René Rast raised the #31 WRT Oreca 07 Gibson at the top of LMP2 time sheets (3:33.154) just a few moments after the green flag and bettered this morning’s fastest lap time by eight tenths of a second. Half way through the session though, the fastest car during FP1 – the #38 Jota Oreca 07 Gibson – regained the lead with Antonio Felix Da Costa at the wheel (3:32.382).
With a little more than 30 minutes left in the session, the #22 United Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson driven by Filipe Albuquerque raised at the top of the time sheets (3:32.099). The Portuguese kept the lead of the category until the chequered flag.
Further down in the ranks:
– The #10 Vector Sport Oreca 07 Gibson had a front right suspension change following an incident in the first free practice session, Nico Müller having apparently clouted a sausage kerb. The car returned on track, some 90 minutes into FP2.
– The only Ligier competing in LMP2 this weekend is the #27 CD Sport Ligier JSP217 Gibson shared by Christophe Cresp, Michael Jensen and Steven Palette (3:42.738). It was the slowest LMP2 car this Sunday. It lied over ten seconds seconds behind the LMP2 leading car.
GTE
Corvette Racing held station at the top of the GTE-Pro timing screen, the #64 and #63 Corvette C8.Rs P1 and P2 early on. Alex Sims had opened his account with a 3:54.314 to improve the #64 car’s best by three tenths over the previous session, the #63 car three-tenths adrift and not improving its times despite consistent installation running. Into the last hour of the session (and still in dry conditions), Sims would trade times at the top, shaving off a couple of tenths in the process. 3:54.001 would be the best GTE-Pro time of the day for the #64 car, both Corvette crews having almost uninterrupted running.
Shane van Gisbergen had a spin at the Ford Chicane in the Riley Competition Ferrari, but the #74 car had shown well, enjoying being ahead AF Corse programme for some while.
AF Corse’s approach was typically unflustered and stealthy though. The #52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo hadn’t seen much daylight, but emerged from its pit in the third hour: 3:54.037 from Miguel Molina would pitch the car to the top of the ‘Pro times until Alexander Sims brought the #64 Corvette back in play. The #51 car turning just seven laps in the first half of the session, Alessandro Pier Guidi’s best lap of 3:54.395 would improve the #51 car’s pace by more than a second over its morning session best finishing the test session fourth in class.
Manthey’s Porsche GT Team was making up for lost time. Laurens Vanthoor stayed aboard the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, doing all the laps until the safety car period at the end of the second hour brought most of the GTE-Pro field back to the pits. 3.54.444 from Kevin Estre would improve the car’s time, but not it’s prominence. Fred Makowiecki posted a 3:54.263 to place the #91 Porsche third.
However, despite this apparent disparity it should be said that just half a second covers the whole of the GTE-Pro field’s performance in typical style.
In GTE-Am the Danes were showing well. Frederik Schandorff resumed his form of the previous session to deliver a seven-tenths improvement on his previous best, 3:55.115 heading the class late in the first hour for the increasingly sharp looking #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari. Further progress by Mikkel Jensen would deliver the fastest GTE-Am time of the day, 3:54.827 just three-tenths shy of last year’s Test Day class best.
Considering the strength of Ferrari entries in GTE-Am , a 1-2-3 shouldn’t be too surprising. With times starting to improve after the safety car period, Renger van der Zande climbed aboard the JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, fresh from his IMSA win yesterday. The 3:55.241 for second fastest time was a statement of intent from the young Cadillac ace, spearheading the potential of JMW’s pace after earlier incidents.
Spirit of Race had rarely been off the pace in today’s test, the red #71 car posting solid times, Pierre Ragues’ 3:55.241 a good improvement on the day to place the car third.
Marco Sorensen for TF Sport headed the category earlier on, Aston Martin’s first show of pace. The #33 Vantage AMR posted 3:56.149 to improve on its session 1 time as the best of the Aston Martins, this accolade was wrestled away by Northwest AMR though, the #98 Aston Martin fourth quickest in class with a 3:55.591
The Iron Dames entry that showed strength in the earlier session did not feature this afternoon, the crew running without incident and evidently preferring to work on baseline set-up.
Having been running well, Simon Mann’s #21 AF Corse Ferrari found the limit at Indianapolis, the British driver spinning and fortunately just brushing the barrier in a high-speed incident.
Incidents elsewhere: D’Station Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR pulled up on the entry to the first turn, bringing out the day’s first safety car period, but rejoined the session. Niggling headlight issues interrupted track time for the #71 Spirit of Race Ferrari, while Matteo Cressoni’s #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari blew a tyre and limped down the Mulsanne straight having been running third quickest. The #56 Team Project 1 Porsche spent time in the pits dealing with a fuel pressure sensor problem.
The #86 GR Racing Porsche was the last ‘Am car to hit the track in the second half of the session. as Jan Heylen had the #88 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche stuck in the gravel after spinning at the entry to the Porsche Curves, punctured front tyres evident, a safety car period that split the session launched for its recovery. The #99 Hardpoint Racing Porsche that had shown well earlier sat in its garage with significant left rear damage. Repaired, the car set its overall fastest lap on its first flying lap. Having shown well earlier in the day, the #61 AF Corse Ferrari caught a Stop/Go penalty of 5-minutes for constantly over-stepping track limits.
