Forest thrills set to begin with Free Practice sessions at Spa

The atmospheric silence through the famous historic Ardennes forest will be blasted away later this morning as the 30 car entry for the second round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship takes to the track.

The first circuit action will see four classes begin their preparations for Saturday’s WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. A full grid of the world’s most spectacular endurance racing cars will snarl around iconic corners such as Eau Rouge, Pouhon and Blanchimont to offer a breath-taking spectacle.

With the typically erratic Spa weather forecast to settle down, with bright sunshine on offer for race day, the spectators are in for their annual treat of wheel-to-wheel battles throughout the quality field.

After the drama of Silverstone, Porsche will be aiming to hunt down Toyota at a track where theoretically the lower downforce specification Porsches should be at less of a disadvantage to their rivals.

The new LMP2 era opened with a thrilling encounter last month, while the two GTE classes provided excellent action with Ford, Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin all showing they could challenge for the new GT World Championship title.

The scene therefore is set and now the ‘superhuman’ reflexes of drivers, strategists, engineers and mechanics will be set to the ultimate test in global endurance competition.

Free Practice One gets underway at 11.45 local time. The second 90-minute session is scheduled to begin at 16.45 local time.

You can follow all the action on the official WEC App or on the FIA WEC site.