Toyota leads Peugeot in FP3, Porsche leads GTE Pro pace

Peugeot set pace in hypercar class on Thursday Despite the two 9X8 LMH cars, the Toyota dominated the top two timesheets in the final on-track session before qualifying with a clear lead over their French rivals.

Mike Conway completed the qualifying simulations at the start of the 60 minute session with a best time of 1:48.384. This put him 1.3 seconds faster than what Peugeot’s Paul di Resta managed in much cooler conditions in his FP2.

The No. 7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID was 0.364 seconds ahead of Brendon Hartley’s No. 8 car, and no other car broke the 1:49 barrier during the session.

Peugeot dropped the pace by over a second in FP3, with Gustavo Menezes having the best run of the two 9X8s, ahead of team-mate di Resta.

Former Formula 1 driver Di Resta pushed the #93 Peugeot to fourth late in the session, leaving the lone Alpine A480-Gibson last in the field of five.

However, Alpine did not focus on single lap pace in practice, with the car’s best time set by Mathieu Vaccivière being 0.6 better than the time set by the Frenchman in Thursday night’s second practice session. seconds late.

LMP2 honors went to WRT thanks to Robin Frijns’ effort of 1’51.792 in #31 ORECA. United Autosport finished just 0.018 seconds behind, courtesy of Filipe Albuquerque.

AF Corse’s Pro/Am entry finished third, further ahead by 0.038 seconds with Alessio Lobera at the wheel of the team’s only ORECA.

Porsche completed a full practice run in the GTE Pro class, but on this occasion the #91 911 RSR-19 took the lead thanks to a time of 1:57.089 set by Gianmaria Bruni.

Alessandro Pier Guidi finished 0.229 seconds behind the best time of the two Ferrari 488 GTEs, ahead of the sister car driven by Antonio Fuoco.

Pier Guidi’s team-mate James Calado suffered a left rear puncture in the last 15 minutes of practice when he was involved in a low-speed collision with a GTE Am Porsche while trying to navigate traffic.

The championship-contending #92 Porsche was driven by Kevin Estre alone in the session and finished more than two seconds off the pace in fourth place.

Nicholas Reutbiller put his Project 1 Porsche on top in the GTE Am ahead of Francesco Castellaci’s #54 AF Corse Ferrari, while Christian Read finished third among the two Dempsey Proton 911s.