BMW M Team WRT’s #15 M Hybrid V8 set the pace in the second Free Practice session of the WEC weekend in Fuji this afternoon.
Dries Vanthoor was the hot shoe for the team in the session, setting a 1:29.577 early in the running as part of a flurry of times which saw three cars complete laps under 1:30 for the first time this week.
Vanthoor’s 1:29.577 was almost a full second quicker than the best time set in Free Practice 1 earlier in the day by the #6 factory Porsche, but just nine thousandths up on the #5 Porsche that slotted in second with a time from Matt Campbell during the second session.
Adding to the encouraging session for BMW was a late long-run from Raffaele Marciello, who completed a series of fast laps in the #15 with Medium tyres on the front and hards on the rear, as the team works towards nailing in a set up for the race.
Completing the top five was the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, #83 AF Corse Ferrari and #8 Toyota, all three lapping within three and a half tenths of the #15 BMW.
In LMGT3 the running order was also significantly different from FP1 too, with the Vista AF Corse finding speed. Alessio Rovera put the #55 Ferrari atop the times with a 1:40.851.
However, Marino Sato’s 1:40.528 from Free Practice 1 in the #95 United Autosports McLaren remains the quickest lap of the day from the class.
TF Sport’s #82 Corvette would finish up second, with the #60 Iron Lynx Huracan third.
It was extremely close in the category, with 16 of the 18 cars lapping within a second.
There was one notable incident, with Claudio Schiavoni spinning at Turn 10 in the #60 Huracan, before receiving a reprimand for an unsafe rejoin.
Track action continues tomorrow with Free Practice 3 at 10:20 local time.
