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Paul Ricard WEC test: Porsche 919 Hybrid fastest in every session

Porsche topped the times in every session over the course of the two-day official World Endurance Championship test at Paul Ricard

The fastest time overall went to Neel Jani in the #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid, in which the Swiss set a 1m37.220s during the Friday night session.

The Swiss driver recorded the time during a qualifying simulation run early on in the two-hour period before darkness had fallen.

His two team-mates in the #18 car, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas, also each attempted a qualifying run, both setting times in the 1m37s bracket.

"We showed a bit of strength, but qualifying strength is not race strength - we don't seem that much better in long runs the others," said Jani.

Second fastest was the #17 Porsche in which Mark Webber posted a 1m38.552s on Friday afternoon.

Benoit Treluyer was third fastest for Audi on a 1m39.058s set on Friday afternoon aboard the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro.

The second of the updated R18s ended up fourth on a 1m39.354 in Loic Duval's hands.

Reigning WEC champion Toyota filled out positions five and six with its 2015-spec TS040 HYBRIDs.

Toyota's revised cars ran in high and low-downforce configurations, both Anthony Davidson and Alex Wurz setting their respective times in the high-downforce trim the Japanese manufacturer will run at the opening WEC round at Silverstone on April 12.

The fastest time on Saturday was set by Timo Bernhard in the #18 Porsche, his morning best of 1m39.157s putting him nearly two tenths up on Jani's afternoon time.

The LMP2 class was topped by Porsche factory driver Nick Tandy in the KCMG ORECA-Nissan 05 coupe that he will race in six of the eight WEC races this season.

His time of 1m47.436s, set on Friday evening, put him three tenths up on the best of the two G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan JSP2s in which Julien Canal recorded a 1m47.760s.

Aston Martin Racing ended up quickest in GTE with the Am class Vantage driven by Stuart Hall.

The Briton's time of 1m57.116s put him a couple of tenths up on Fernando Rees, who was fastest for AMR in GTE Pro.

Neither Aston was running the small-diameter air restrictor the car has been given for Silverstone next month.

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