Austin WEC: Porsche locks out top spots in both practice sessions
Porsche monopolised the top positions in both free practice sessions for this weekend's Austin round of the World Endurance Championship
The German manufacturer's pair of 919 Hybrids shared honours across the two practice periods: Earl Bamber went fastest aboard the #2 car in FP1 and Neel Jani topped the times in the #1 Porsche in the second of the 90-minute sessions.
Bamber led the way with a 1m48.124s in the opening session before the times tumbled in FP2.
Jani ended up with fastest time of the day, a 1m45.860s, which left him just over half a second up on Bamber's second-session best of 1m46.401s in the #2 car.
The fastest of the Toyota TS050 HYBRIDs ended up nearly a second off the pace on a 1m46.819s from Kamui Kobayashi set in the second session.
Sebastien Buemi's 1m48.584s from opening practice left the #8 Toyota fourth in combined times.
The two Rebellion ORECA-Gibson 07s jumped to the top of the LMP2 times midway through the second session.
Bruno Senna ended up fastest in class on a 1m54.601s, which put him just under three tenths up on Mathias Beche in the sister car.
Early second session pacesetter Alex Lynn ended up third position in the G-Drive ORECA after earlier topping the times in the opening period.
Nicki Thiim set the pace in GTE Pro for Aston Martin, his 2m04.023s second-session best putting him just seven hundredths up on Harry Tincknell in the best of the Ganassi Ford GTs.
The two Fords had been quickest in the opening session, Stefan Mucke ending up two tenths clear of Andy Priaulx in the #67 car.
Pedro Lamy was quickest in GTE Am for Aston Martin in both sessions.
FP1 times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m48.124s | - | 30 |
2 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m48.269s | 0.145s | 32 |
3 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, S.Sarrazin, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m48.584s | 0.460s | 34 |
4 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m49.314s | 1.190s | 38 |
5 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, A.Lynn | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m55.399s | 7.275s | 37 |
6 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m55.708s | 7.584s | 39 |
7 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 1m56.034s | 7.910s | 33 |
8 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m56.391s | 8.267s | 34 |
9 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m56.579s | 8.455s | 27 |
10 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m56.839s | 8.715s | 29 |
11 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m56.848s | 8.724s | 33 |
12 | LMP2 | M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m56.986s | 8.862s | 33 |
13 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m57.325s | 9.201s | 30 |
14 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m04.939s | 16.815s | 33 |
15 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m05.213s | 17.089s | 35 |
16 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m05.594s | 17.470s | 35 |
17 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m05.918s | 17.794s | 36 |
18 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m06.185s | 18.061s | 40 |
19 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m06.272s | 18.148s | 12 |
20 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam, D.Serra | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m06.402s | 18.278s | 38 |
21 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m06.437s | 18.313s | 25 |
22 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m06.989s | 18.865s | 31 |
23 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m07.371s | 19.247s | 32 |
24 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 2m07.664s | 19.540s | 27 |
25 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 2m07.974s | 19.850s | 35 |
26 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 2m08.004s | 19.880s | 35 |
FP2 times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m45.860s | - | 36 |
2 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m46.401s | 0.541s | 35 |
3 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m46.819s | 0.959s | 43 |
4 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, S.Sarrazin, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m48.839s | 2.979s | 44 |
5 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m54.601s | 8.741s | 36 |
6 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m54.770s | 8.910s | 31 |
7 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, A.Lynn | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m55.043s | 9.183s | 41 |
8 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 1m55.136s | 9.276s | 39 |
9 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m55.443s | 9.583s | 40 |
10 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m55.818s | 9.958s | 39 |
11 | LMP2 | M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m55.864s | 10.004s | 23 |
12 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m55.965s | 10.105s | 34 |
13 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m57.177s | 11.317s | 41 |
14 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m04.023s | 18.163s | 36 |
15 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m04.097s | 18.237s | 37 |
16 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m05.208s | 19.348s | 32 |
17 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m05.375s | 19.515s | 36 |
18 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m05.468s | 19.608s | 32 |
19 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam, D.Serra | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m05.750s | 19.890s | 26 |
20 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m05.898s | 20.038s | 32 |
21 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m05.935s | 20.075s | 12 |
22 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m06.241s | 20.381s | 33 |
23 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 2m07.503s | 21.643s | 37 |
24 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m07.852s | 21.992s | 32 |
25 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 2m07.981s | 22.121s | 34 |
26 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 2m08.218s | 22.358s | 37 |
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