Toyota beats Porsche in second WEC test session

What turned out to be the quickest time of the day came in the early stages of the three-hour afternoon session, as Mike Conway turned a 1m31.332s in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid.

That put him some eight tenths clear of the benchmark that Porsche’s Neel Jani had established in the morning session, and a similar margin ahead of the sister #8 car.

It was the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid that was second for much of the afternoon, as Andre Lotterer recorded a 1m32.211s late in the opening hour.

But a late flurry of times in the final five minutes saw Kazuki Nakajima make it a Toyota 1-2 with a best time of 1m32.062s.

Brendon Hartley also managed to put the #2 Porsche clear of the sister car with a last-minute effort of 1m32.146s, with Jani fractionally improving on Lotterer’s earlier time but staying fourth in the #1.

Much like the morning, the sole privateer LMP1 entry, the ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01-Nissan, did not set a laptime - as it was still being assembled in the pit box. 

Oliver Webb told Motorsport.com he expects the build process to have finished in time to be able to run in the evening session, commencing at 7pm local time, however.

In LMP2, it was reigning class champion Gustavo Menezes that led the way for the #36 Signatech Alpine crew, the American posting a best time of 1m37.020s with just over an hour remaining.

Vitaly Petrov put the sole Manor car running this weekend, the #24 Oreca, up to second with a time just 0.065s slower than Menezes in the dying stages – pushing down the #26 G-Drive Oreca of compatriot Roman Rusinov to third place in class.

Porsche stays ahead in GTE

Porsche once again led the way in the GTE Pro division, with Kevin Estre putting the #92 911 RSR on top despite causing a red flag halfway through the session.

The Frenchman caused the delay by beaching his car in the gravel at the Variante Ascari, after he had set a best effort of 1m47.844s in the opening hour.

Olivier Pla put the best of the Ganassi-run Ford GTs, the #66, in second with a 1m47.947s, a tenth ahead of the second of the Manthey-run Porsches, the #91 of Richard Lietz.

Ferrari’s best representative was the #51 488 GTE of James Calado, who logged a 1m48.551s to go fourth-fastest, beating the second of the Fords and both Aston Martins.

Porsche continued to control the GTE Am category too, as Ben Barker once more set the class benchmark, a 1m50.035s, in the #86 Gulf Racing car.