Interlagos WEC: Toyota fastest in practice

Nicolas Lapierre topped the times aboard the solo Toyota TS030 Hybrid in the second of the two practice sessions on the opening day at Interlagos. He set a time of 1m23.272s in the dying seconds of the Thursday afternoon session to eclipse team-mate Alex Wurz's previous benchmark of 1m23.623s.

The best Audi time around the 2.68-mile Brazilian track was a further tenths slower. Sportscar debutant Lucas di Grassi set a 1m23.710s in the non-hybrid Audi R18 ultra he is sharing this weekend with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen.

Di Grassi was a further three tenths clear of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro in the hands of Benoit Treluyer. The hybrid Audi, which leads the WEC drivers' points with Treluyer, Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler, had been fastest in Lotterer's hands in the opening 90-minute session.

The LMP2 class was led by Olivier Lombard and Roman Rusinov in the two Signatech ORECA-Nissan 03s. They were separated by just three one thousandths of a second after the new-tyre runs in the second session.

The GTE times were topped by Darren Turner in the solo factory Aston Martin Vantage GTE. The Briton set a time of 1m34.001s late in the second session to leapfrog Marc Lieb in the best of the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3-RSRs by four tenths.

Practice one:

Pos  Cl     Drivers                         Team/Car                Time
 1.  P1     Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer       Audi e-tron             1m24.370s
 2.  P1     Kristensen/McNish/di Grassi     Audi ultra              1m24.838s
 3.  P1     Wurz/Lapierre                   Toyota                  1m25.055s
 4.  P1     Leventis/Watts/Kane             Strakka HPD             1m25.588s
 5.  P1     Prost/Jani                      Rebellion Lola-Toyota   1m25.798s
 6.  P1     Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck       JRM HPD                 1m26.440s
 7.  P1     Belicchi/Primat                 Rebellion Lola-Toyota   1m26.851s
 8.  P2     Potolicchio/Dalziel/Sarrazin    Starworks HPD           1m28.302s
 9.  P2     Liuzzi/Rossiter/Weeda           Lotus Lola-Lotus        1m28.951s
10.  P2     Panciatici/Ragues/Rusinov       Signatech ORECA-Nissan  1m29.034s
11.  P2     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla              OAK Morgan-Nissan       1m29.100s
12.  P2     Martin/Charouz/Graves           ADR-Delta ORECA-Nissan  1m29.162s
13.  P2     Perez Companc/Minassian/Kaffer  Pecom ORECA-Nissan      1m29.244s
14.  P2     Mailleux/Lombard/Tresson        Signatech ORECA-Nissan  1m29.468s
15.  P2     Baguette/Kraihamer/Brundle      OAK Morgan-Nissan       1m29.786s
16.  P2     Zugel/Gonzalez/Julian           Greaves Zytek-Nissan    1m30.520s
17.  P2     Holzer/Schultis/Moro            Lotus Lola-Lotus        1m31.187s
18.  P2     Giroix/Ihara/Deletraz           Gulf Lola-Nissan        1m31.571s
19.  GTE P  Fisichella/Bruni                AF Ferrari              1m34.904s
20.  GTE P  Lieb/Lietz                      Felbermayr Porsche      1m35.210s
21.  GTE P  Mucke/Turner                    Aston Martin            1m35.409s
22.  GTE P  Bertolini/Beretta               AF Ferrari              1m35.480s
23.  GTE A  Longo/Negrao/Bernoldi           AF-Waltrip Ferrari      1m36.003s
24.  GTE A  Bornhauser/Canal/Rees           Larbre Corvette         1m36.270s
25.  GTE A  Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo            Krohn Ferrari           1m36.605s
26.  GTE A  Ried/Roda/Ruberti               Felbermayr Porsche      1m36.906s
27.  GTE A  Camathias/Palttala/Daniels      JWA Porsche             1m38.633s
28.  GTE A  Belloc/Bourret/Gibon            Larbre Corvette         1m40.545s

Practice two:

Pos  Cl     Drivers                         Team/Car                Time
 1.  P1     Wurz/Lapierre                   Toyota                  1m23.272s
 2.  P1     Kristensen/McNish/di Grassi     Audi ultra              1m23.710s
 3.  P1     Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer       Audi e-tron             1m23.900s
 4.  P1     Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck       JRM HPD                 1m24.265s
 5.  P1     Leventis/Watts/Kane             Strakka HPD             1m25.325s
 6.  P1     Prost/Jani                      Rebellion Lola-Toyota   1m25.556s
 7.  P1     Belicchi/Primat                 Rebellion Lola-Toyota   1m26.252s
 8.  P2     Mailleux/Lombard/Tresson        Signatech ORECA-Nissan  1m27.815s
 9.  P2     Panciatici/Ragues/Rusinov       Signatech ORECA-Nissan  1m27.818s
10.  P2     Potolicchio/Dalziel/Sarrazin    Starworks HPD           1m28.190s
11.  P2     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla              OAK Morgan-Nissan       1m28.227s
12.  P2     Baguette/Kraihamer/Brundle      OAK Morgan-Nissan       1m28.228s
13.  P2     Liuzzi/Rossiter/Weeda           Lotus Lola-Lotus        1m28.234s
14.  P2     Martin/Charouz/Graves           ADR-Delta ORECA-Nissan  1m28.262s
15.  P2     Perez Companc/Minassian/Kaffer  Pecom ORECA-Nissan      1m28.529s
16.  P2     Zugel/Gonzalez/Julian           Greaves Zytek-Nissan    1m29.704s
17.  P2     Holzer/Schultis/Moro            Lotus Lola-Lotus        1m30.136s
18.  P2     Giroix/Ihara/Deletraz           Gulf Lola-Nissan        1m31.413s
19.  GTE P  Mucke/Turner                    Aston Martin            1m34.001s
20.  GTE P  Lieb/Lietz                      Felbermayr Porsche      1m34.413s
21.  GTE A  Bornhauser/Canal/Rees           Larbre Corvette         1m34.841s
22.  GTE P  Fisichella/Bruni                AF Ferrari              1m35.137s
23.  GTE P  Bertolini/Beretta               As Ferrari              1m35.210s
24.  GTE A  Ried/Roda/Ruberti               Felbermayr Porsche      1m36.016s
25.  GTE A  Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo            Krohn Ferrari           1m36.017s
26.  GTE A  Longo/Negrao/Bernoldi           AF-Waltrip Ferrari      1m36.521s
27.  GTE A  Belloc/Bourret/Gibon            Larbre Corvette         1m36.957s
28.  GTE A  Camathias/Palttala/Daniels      JWA Porsche             1m37.633s