WEC: Toyota and Ferrari share practice top spots at Spa

The action in the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, round two of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season, kicked off with two practice sessions held on Thursday, with the top spots going to Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sébastien Buemi and Ferrari AF Corse’s Antonio Giovinazzi respectively

TOYOTA QUICK FROM THE OFF
The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar driven by Sébastien Buemi set the fastest lap of the first free practice session of the day.

The winner of the recent 6 Hours of Portimão lapped in 2m02.982s, with Antonio Fuoco placing the #50 Ferrari 499P second with a 2m04.632s lap. 

José María López took the third-best time as the Argentinian, who won the Belgian race with teammates Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway last season, clocked the best lap of 2m04.642s. 

WEC returnee Filipe Albuquerque, who missed his home race at Portimão, went quickest in the LMP2 class owing to a 2m07.471s lap set aboard the #22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson.

In the LMGTE Am ranks Daniel Serra continued his trend of being the fastest driver in pre-race sessions this season, lapping with the best time of 2m16.177s in his Kessel Racing-ran Ferrari 488 Evo.

FERRARI RESPONDS WITH 1-2
Ferrari AF Corse topped the times in the second 90-minute free practice session of the day as Antonio Giovinazzi recorded an impressive 2m01.871s lap in the #51 499P, improving by over a second compared with the best overall FP1 time.

The second-best driver of the session was Miguel Molina in the second of the Ferraris 499Ps. The Spaniard was 1.278s off his stablemate.

Cadillac Racing rounded out the top three as the #5 V-Series.R in the hands of Alex Lynn completed its best lap of the circuit in 2m03.338s.

The best of the Toyotas was fourth-fastest, with the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar driven by Ryo Hirakawa, as the manufacturer concentrated on longer runs. 

Team WRT, the only Belgian-entered outfit on the grid, topped the LMP2 class times, owing to a 2:06.108 lap from Robin Frijns, as the #31 entry aims to reprise its 2022 success. 

In the LMGTE Am class, it was Ferrari atop the timing screens once again, but on this occasion it was the #54 AF Corse car with Davide Rigon claiming his best lap of 2m15.736s.