Lapierre's Toyota fastest on his return to LMP1; TDS ahead in LMP2
The second day of The Prologue has come to its conclusion, with the No. 8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID of Nicolas Lapierre setting the fastest time of the weekend during the fifth and final session on Sunday afternoon.
It marked a successful conclusion to the FIA World Endurance Championship’s official pre-season test at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, attended by thousands of enthusiastic Italian fans who turned out to watch the cars and meet the drivers in an autograph session and pitwalk.
Of the 28 full season entries that will enter the 6 Hours of Silverstone, 27 appeared at Monza with only the CEFC Manor TRS Racing team missing their No.25 ORECA 07-Gibson.
The highlights of the day were as follows:
- On his return to LMP1 with Toyota Gazoo Racing, Nicolas Lapierre set the fastest time of The Prologue in the final afternoon session. The Frenchman’s No.8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID set his best lap of 1m30.547s on his second lap, which remained unbeaten for the remainder of the session.
- Lapierre, who celebrated his 33rd birthday today, was 0.785 seconds faster than the best time set by team-mate Mike Conway in the No. 7 Toyota yesterday afternoon, with team-mate Anthony Davidson being the only other driver to lap under the 1m30s barrier.
- The two Porsche 919 Hybrids were third and fourth, with the top 4 cars separated by just 1.2 seconds.
- The ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01-Nismo did not run today following a mechanical issue yesterday.
- In LMP2, Ho-Pin Tung’s No.38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA posted the fastest time of the afternoon session, 0.111 seconds ahead of Nelson Panciatici in the No.35 Signatech-Alpine A470-Gibson.
- he Chinese/Dutch driver’s time put him third fastest overall, behind the No.28 TDS Racing ORECA of Mathieu Vaxivière and the No.31 Vaillante Rebellion of Bruno Senna.
- However, the session was not without incident as the No.36 Signatech-Alpine of Matt Rao was caught out by a brief shower of rain at the first Lesmo and slid off track into the barriers.
Next stop on the WEC calendar is the opening round of the 2017 season, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, which takes place at the home of British motor racing between 14-16 April. A festival of endurance and single-seater racing awaits fans – don’t miss it!
All times from the test session can be found HERE
