Toyota fight back in final Free Practice session

Toyota topped the times in the final Free Practice at Nurburgring this morning as the Japanese manufacturer completed qualifying simulations.  Jose-Maria Lopez topped the timing screens in the No.7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID he shares with teammates Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.

It was a Toyota 1-2 as the sister TS050 HYBRID placed second 0.427s away from Lopez’s time.

Bruno Senna (Vaillante Rebellion), Olivier Pla (Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK) and Matteo Cairoli (Dempsey-Proton Porsche) were the other class leaders in the largely incident free session held under cloudy but dry skies.

The qualifying periods this afternoon are due to get underway with the LMGTE combined sessions at 14.55. The LMP1 and 2 session will begin at 15.25.

The Headlines from FP3….

• Toyota claimed the top two positions in the final Free Practice session before qualifying
• Jose-Maria Lopez set a best time of 1:38.969 in the No.7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID
• Lopez’s time was 0.4s faster than the sister TS050 HYBRID
• Porsche concentrate on race pace and place third and fourth with No.2 919 Hybrid just ahead of No.1
• Bruno Senna sets the pace in LMP2 aboard No.31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca-Gibson. The Brazilian registers a 1:46.017 best.
• Senna beats Nelson Panciatici’s 1:46.221 lap in No.35 Signatech Alpine
• Third in LMP2 is No.38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Jota car as Oliver Jarvis sets a 1:46.341 best
• No.24 CEFC Manor TRS car has to serve a 7-minute penalty in race after incident in FP2 which occurred after red flag was shown
• Olivier Pla fastest for Ford Chip Ganassi as he takes No.66 Ford GT to top of LMGTE Pro class with a 1:54.875 best
• Pla beats early time set by Davide Rigon in the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari 488GTE but car suffers a problem in final moments as Rigon’s new teammate for Nurburgring – Toni Vilander stops on track after running out of fuel
• Third in LMGTE Pro is second Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi
• Dempsey-Proton Porsche continues impressive pace in LMGTE Am as Matteo Cairoli is fastest again with a best of 1:56.882
• Spirit of Race Ferrari places second in class on a 1:57.108

All times can be found HERE