Afternoon test session complete as Hypercars make WEC debut
The second test session of the two-day Prologue – the official pre-season test for the FIA WEC - saw plenty of action including two incidents during the same lap early in the afternoon.
It was the No. 22 United Autosports car that set the fastest time this afternoon, however, with Filipe Albuquerque at the wheel when the Portuguese driver clocked a time of 2:04.822, just 0.001s ahead of Racing Team Nederland’s Job van Uitert in the No. 29 Oreca-Gibson car. Third fastest was Team WRT, the Belgian team full of confidence after winning last weekend’s ELMS season-opener in Barcelona.
Elsewhere, the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid only completed a handful of laps as the new Hypercar suffered from hydraulic and electrical issues, leading to a lengthy replacement stint in the pits. The sister No. 8 car successfully completed 67 laps, in what proved to be an important day for the team to test the all-new machinery ahead of the WEC season-opener which takes place this weekend. The Alpine Elf Matmut run Alpine A480 finished the afternoon fourth fastest, the French outfit completing a total of 70 laps during the test.
Close to the start of the session, the No. 28 JOTA car driven by Sean Gelael had an off at Raidillon causing significant damage to the back end of the Oreca. During the same lap, misfortune also struck for the No. 46 Team Project 1 entry as Anders Buchardt spun the Porsche 911 RSR – 19 into the barriers at Bruxelles.
Kevin Estre’s time of 2:14.304 in the No. 92 Porsche he shares with Neel Jani was the quickest out of the five LMGTE Pro entries. The No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra was second fastest.
Meanwhile, the No. 56 Team Project 1 topped the times out of the 13 LMGTE Am entries followed by five Ferrari 488 GTE Evo cars from AF Corse, Cetilar Racing and Iron Lynx. The all-female line-up in the No. 85 Iron Lynx car was fifth fastest. Neither D’Station Racing or TF Sport ran their Aston Martin Vantage AMRs during the afternoon following incidents at Raidillon earlier today.
Day two of the Official Prologue will commence tomorrow at 09h05 local time (CEST).
