WEC Prologue: Toyota tops testing
Reigning Hypercar World Endurance Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ champions, Toyota has secured the top two spots in both sessions of the second and final day of the Prologue, the FIA World Endurance Championship’s official pre-season test
Mike Conway set the fastest lap of Sunday’s morning session, reeling off a best lap of 1m48.473 in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar. Conway’s best lap was 0.008s seconds faster than stablemate Sebastien Buemi achieved in the No. 8 car.
The No.5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 driven by Michael Christensen was third quickest with a 1m49.073. The Dane was followed by Alex Lynn’s No.2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, which placed fourth.
Kevin Estre was fifth in the No.5 Penske Porsche 963, with the No.94 Peugeot 9X8 of Nico Mueller placing sixth and making it four manufacturers in the top six positions.
Floyd Vanwall and Glickenhaus Racing in the two non-hybrid LMH cars improved significantly on their Saturday times with each completing strong stints with all three drivers at the wheel over the course of the three hours.
The fiercely competitive LMP2 category was headed by the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque, who peaked on the best lap of 1m50.577.
In the GTE-Am, Porsche locked out the top five positions with Matteo Cairoli taking the best time in the No. 56 Project 1 – AO entry.
Toyota’s yet another 1-2
Toyota stayed atop the timing screens for the fourth and final Prologue session as Brendon Hartley set the second-fastest time of the test overall so far.
The session was stopped and subsequently shortened with 10 minutes to go after a red flag was brought out after an incident involving David Heinemeier-Hansson in the N0.28 Jota LMP2 car and Thomas Flohr in the No.54 AF Corse Ferrari.
A 1m48.216s lap by the Kiwi shaded the sister No.7 Toyota GTR010 Hybrid Hypercar by a mere 0.117s over Mike Conway, while the time was just 0.008s off José María López’s outright best from Saturday morning.
While Toyota secured its third 1-2 from the four sessions, Cadillac Racing continued its strong showing with the new Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar. Richard Westbrook lapped in a 1m48.890s best in the car he will share with Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn this season.
LMP2 saw the No.41 Team WRT Oreca-Gibson lead the way as Robert Kubica continued his rapid form by setting a 1m50.827s best lap.
The LMGTE Am category again saw Porsche on top but this time it was the GR Racing 911 RSR 19 heading the times.