Prologue Session 3: Conway leads with Toyota
The third session of the 2023 FIA WEC Prologue ended with the same 1-2 as the first session held on Saturday morning as Toyota Gazoo Racing reigned supreme at the top of the order.
Mike Conway set the fastest lap of the session reeling off a best lap of 1m48.473 in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar in the 3.5 hour session.
Conway’s best lap was 0.008s seconds faster than stablemate Sebastien Buemi in the No. 8 Toyota.
Prologue Session 3 Toyota tops the timesheets.
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The No.5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 driven by Michael Christensen was third quickest on a 1m49.073. The Dane was followed by Alex Lynn’s No.2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, which placed fourth.
Kevin Estre was fifth in the No.5 Penske Porsche 963, with the No.94 Peugeot 9X8 of Nico Mueller placed sixth, making it four manufacturers in the top six positions.
Floyd Vanwall and Glickenhaus Racing in the two non-hybrid LMH cars improved significantly on their Saturday times with each completing strong stints with all three drivers at the wheel over the course of the three hours.
The fiercely competitive LMP2 category was headed by the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque, who peaked on a best lap of 1m50.577.
The No. 63 Prema Racing and No. 48 Hertz Team JOTA entries took second and third in class with Doriane Pin and Yifei Ye setting the times for the Italian and British teams respectively.
In the GTE-Am, Porsche locked out the top five positions with Matteo Cairoli taking the best time in the No. 56 Project 1 – AO entry.
Iron Lynx and Iron Dames took second and third positions with Alessio Picariello and Michelle Gatting claiming best laps, with Gatting just 0.003s off Picariello’s second best effort.
The session saw three red flags and a Full Course Yellow. James Calado caused one of the reds when the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P cars he was driving crashed at Turn One. The all-new car sustained damage and took no further part in the running.
Takeshi Kimura also went off in the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo at Turn 17 causing a long full course yellow period.
Two further red flags flew for debris and an incident again at Turn 17.
The final Prologue session is scheduled to get underway at 14:30pm local time.
