Silverstone WEC: Toyota two seconds clear of Porsche in FP2
Toyota dominated the second practice session for the FIA World Endurance Championship season-opener at Silverstone, beating Porsche by more than two seconds.
Kazuki Nakajima topped the times in the Friday afternoon session in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid on a 1m38.210s, which put him 2.290s ahead of third-placed Porsche driver Earl Bamber.
Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota set the times that put them one-two in the timesheets in the opening minutes of the session lasting one and a half hours.
Kobayashi posted a 1m38.444s to end up 0.234s behind the sister car.
Bamber set a 1m40.500s in the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, while Andre Lotterer was 0.7s back on a 1m41.201s in the #1 car.
The ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01 improved on its morning time by nearly three seconds to end up on a 1m45.512s, set by James Rossiter - although this was still behind two LMP2 cars.
Alex Lynn led the way in LMP2 aboard the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca on a 1m44.874s, which put him just over a tenth clear of Nicolas Lapierre in the #36 Signatech Alpine.
Third place was taken by early class pacesetter Mathias Beche in the best of the Anglo-Swiss Rebellion team's Orecas.
Porsche takes charge in GTE
Porsche held sway in GTE Pro courtesy of a 1m57.765s recorded by Kevin Estre in the #92 911 RSR.
The Frenchman ended up just under two tenths up on the best of factory Aston Martin Vantage GTEs, the #97 in Jonny Adam's hands, with the sister #95 car in third ahead of the two Ganassi-run Ford GTs.
Ben Barker was quickest in GTE Am for the Gulf Racing Porsche squad.
Practice results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |  Anthony Davidson  Kazuki Nakajima  Sébastien Buemi | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'38.210 | |
| 2 | 7 | Kamui Kobayashi Mike Conway  Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'38.444 | 0.234 |
| 3 | 2 |  Timo Bernhard  Brendon Hartley Earl Bamber | Porsche 919 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'40.500 | 2.290 |
| 4 | 1 | Andre Lotterer Neel Jani Nick Tandy | Porsche 919 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'41.201 | 2.991 |
| 5 | 26 |  Roman Rusinov  Pierre Thiriet Alex Lynn | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'44.874 | 6.664 |
| 6 | 36 | Nicolas Lapierre  Gustavo Menezes Matt Rao | Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 1'45.006 | 6.796 |
| 7 | 4 | Oliver Webb  Dominik Kraihamer James Rossiter | ENSO CLM P1/01 | LMP1 | 1'45.512 | 7.302 |
| 8 | 13 | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'45.622 | 7.412 | |
| 9 | 37 |  David Cheng Tristan Gommendy Alex Brundle | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'45.907 | 7.697 |
| 10 | 28 | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Matthieu Vaxivière | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'46.585 | 8.375 |
| 11 | 31 |  Bruno Senna Julien Canal Nicolas Prost | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'47.256 | 9.046 |
| 12 | 38 | Oliver Jarvis Ho-Pin Tung Thomas Laurent | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'47.564 | 9.354 |
| 13 | 24 | Jean-Eric Vergne Jonathan Hirschi  Tor Graves | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'47.954 | 9.744 |
| 14 | 25 | Vitaly Petrov Simon Trummer  Roberto Gonzalez | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'48.076 | 9.866 |
| 15 | 92 |  Michael Christensen Kevin Estre | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 1'57.765 | 19.555 |
| 16 | 97 | Darren Turner Jonathan Adam Daniel Serra | Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE PRO | 1'57.957 | 19.747 |
| 17 | 95 | Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim Richie Stanaway | Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE PRO | 1'57.981 | 19.771 |
| 18 | 67 | Pipo Derani Harry Tincknell  Andy Priaulx | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.114 | 19.904 |
| 19 | 66 | Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla Billy Johnson | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.189 | 19.979 |
| 20 | 51 | James Calado  Alessandro Pier Guidi | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.535 | 20.325 |
| 21 | 91 | Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.955 | 20.745 |
| 22 | 71 | Sam Bird Davide Rigon | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 1'59.815 | 21.605 |
| 23 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Ben Barker Nick Foster | Porsche 911 RSR (991) | LMGTE AM | 1'59.991 | 21.781 |
| 24 | 54 | Francesco Castellacci  Miguel Molina Thomas Flohr | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 2'00.380 | 22.170 |
| 25 | 77 | Christian Ried Matteo Cairoli Marvin Dienst | Porsche 911 RSR (991) | LMGTE AM | 2'00.421 | 22.211 |
| 26 | 98 |  Pedro Lamy  Paul Dalla Lana Mathias Lauda | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | LMGTE AM | 2:00.437 | 22.227 |
| 27 | 61 |  Matt Griffin  Mok Weng Sun Keita Sawa | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 2'00.509 | 22.299 |
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