WEC Shanghai: Conway heads Toyota 1-2 over Porsche in practice
Toyota went fastest in the two opening sessions of free practice ahead of Sunday's penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship in Shanghai
The #7 TS050 HYBRID topped the times with Mike Conway at the wheel in each of the 90-minute sessions, the Briton edging out the best of the Porsches in the opening period and the sister #8 Toyota in FP2.
Conway's fastest time of the day was a 1m44.741s posted early in session two, which represented an improvement of nearly 2.5 seconds on his mark set earlier in the day.
Anthony Davidson ended up second in the faster afternoon session with a 1m45.131s, while the quickest Porsche 919 Hybrid took third with a 1m45.269s from Brendon Hartley.
The sister Porsche was fourth on a 1m45.616s from Nick Tandy, who had earlier been second fastest in FP1.
The #13 Rebellion ORECA-Gibson 07 led the way in LMP2 in both sessions. Mathias Beche was fastest on a 1m52.533s in the opening period, before team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr improved by two seconds in the later session to end up on a 1m50.556s.
Thomas Laurent was less than a tenth behind with a 1m50.884s in the second session aboard the best of the Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA-Gibsons.
The second Rebellion car ended up third, Julien Canal setting a best time of a 1m50.946s.
Ferrari and Ford shared out GTE Pro honours across the two sessions.
Stefan Mucke led the way in FP1 in the #66 Ganassi Ford GT with a 2m02.693s, before James Calado went seven tenths quicker in FP2 with a 2m01.913s at the wheel of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE.
Porsche ended up with the second fastest time of the day, a 2m02.539s from Richard Lietz in the fastest of the two factory 911 RSRs.
Mucke's first-session mark put him third in the times from the day.
Matteo Cairoli was fastest in GTE Am for the Dempsey-Proton Porsche squad.
The opening practice session was delayed by an hour and a half courtesy of radio communication problems between race control and the marshals.
FP1 times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m47.182s | - | 35 |
2 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m47.414s | 0.232s | 35 |
3 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m47.637s | 0.455s | 34 |
4 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m47.929s | 0.747s | 36 |
5 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m52.533s | 5.351s | 36 |
6 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, L.Roussel, N.Muller | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m53.154s | 5.972s | 37 |
7 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m53.330s | 6.148s | 33 |
8 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m53.528s | 6.346s | 21 |
9 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m53.561s | 6.379s | 33 |
10 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m53.890s | 6.708s | 32 |
11 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 1m54.031s | 6.849s | 34 |
12 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m54.196s | 7.014s | 36 |
13 | LMP2 | M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m54.212s | 7.030s | 27 |
14 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m02.693s | 15.511s | 23 |
15 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m03.181s | 15.999s | 40 |
16 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m03.191s | 16.009s | 30 |
17 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m03.404s | 16.222s | 29 |
18 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m03.405s | 16.223s | 30 |
19 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m03.474s | 16.292s | 32 |
20 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m03.642s | 16.460s | 35 |
21 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m04.017s | 16.835s | 34 |
22 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 2m04.789s | 17.607s | 35 |
23 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m05.165s | 17.983s | 32 |
24 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m05.556s | 18.374s | 39 |
25 | GTE Am | K.Al Qubaisi, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 2m05.666s | 18.484s | 36 |
26 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 2m05.911s | 18.729s | 38 |
FP2 times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m44.741s | - | 39 |
2 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m45.131s | 0.390s | 40 |
3 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m45.269s | 0.528s | 35 |
4 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m45.616s | 0.875s | 39 |
5 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m50.556s | 5.815s | 34 |
6 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m50.884s | 6.143s | 29 |
7 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m50.946s | 6.205s | 35 |
8 | LMP2 | M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m50.993s | 6.252s | 43 |
9 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 1m51.003s | 6.262s | 42 |
10 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m51.410s | 6.669s | 38 |
11 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, L.Roussel, N.Muller | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m51.666s | 6.925s | 42 |
12 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m52.096s | 7.355s | 39 |
13 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m52.234s | 7.493s | 40 |
14 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m01.913s | 17.172s | 27 |
15 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m02.539s | 17.798s | 38 |
16 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m02.724s | 17.983s | 39 |
17 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 2m02.939s | 18.198s | 37 |
18 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 2m03.147s | 18.406s | 39 |
19 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m03.353s | 18.612s | 39 |
20 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m03.684s | 18.943s | 39 |
21 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m03.765s | 19.024s | 39 |
22 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 2m04.040s | 19.299s | 35 |
23 | GTE Am | K.Al Qubaisi, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 2m04.117s | 19.376s | 35 |
24 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m04.269s | 19.528s | 39 |
25 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m04.293s | 19.552s | 28 |
26 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 2m04.602s | 19.861s | 36 |
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