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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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