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Edition

Australia
Practice report

Mexico WEC: Porsche stays on top in Saturday practice

Porsche claimed fastest time across the final free practice sessions ahead of qualifying for Sunday's Mexico City round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

#2 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid: Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley

#2 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid: Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley

JEP / Motorsport Images

#2 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid: Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley
#2 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid: Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid: Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima
#38 DC Racing Oreca 07 Gibson: Ho-Pin Tung, Oliver Jarvis, Thomas Laurent
#71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE: Davide Rigon, Sam Bird
#67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT: Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell
#92 Porsche Team Porsche 911 RSR: Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre
#67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT: Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell

Brendon Hartley posted the fastest time of the weekend so far with a 1m25.007s in the #2 919 Hybrid during the 90-minute morning session, before Nick Tandy went fastest with a 1m25.678s in the one-hour afternoon period.

The #1 Porsche subsequently lost the time for a pitlane speeding infringement by Tandy. 

Toyota had trailed the Porsches in Friday's session and this morning, but Sebastien Buemi knocked nearly a second off the best time by one of the TS050 Hybrids in the afternoon to end up at the top of the timesheets on 1m25.789s.

Tandy finished second in the afternoon times with a 1m25.983s set after his pitlane speeding infringement. Mike Conway took third on a 1m26.069s in the second of the Toyotas.

The #2 Porsche ended the final session fourth in that session, with a 1m26.127s from Timo Bernhard.

DC Racing on top in LMP2

The Jackie Chan DC Racing squad was fastest in LMP2 in both Saturday sessions with its pair of Oreca 07s.

Ho-Pin Tung set the pace in the morning on a 1m33.390s, while Alex Brundle went faster by two tenths in the afternoon with a 1m33.130s. 

Nicolas Lapierre was just over one hundredth slower than Brundle in the afternoon with a 1m33.144s aboard the Signatech Alpine. 

Third fastest P2 time of the day was a 1m33.150s set by Alex Lynn in the G-Drive Oreca.

Ferrari leads Ford in GTE Pro

Ferrari posted the quickest GTE Pro time of the day courtesy of a 1m39.722s from Sam Bird in the #71 AF Corse-run 488 GTE in the afternoon.

That was just over a tenth clear of Stefan Mucke in the fastest of the Chip Ganassi Fords GTs. 

The German's 1m39.886s just eclipsed the 1m39.931s with which Marco Sorensen had topped the class order in the morning in the fastest of the Aston Martin Vantage GTEs. 

Ben Barker set the pace in GTE Am for the Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR in the afternoon. 

His 1m41.069s was just five thousandths quicker than Matteo Cairoli in the Dempsey-Proton Porsche. 

Third practice results:

Pos.#DriversCarClassTimeGap
1 8 united_kingdom Anthony Davidson 
japan Kazuki Nakajima 
switzerland Sébastien Buemi 
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 1'25.789  
2 1 germany Andre Lotterer 
switzerland Neel Jani 
united_kingdom Nick Tandy 
Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 1'25.983 0.194
3 7 japan Kamui Kobayashi 
united_kingdom Mike Conway 
argentina Jose Maria Lopez 
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 1'26.069 0.280
4 2 germany Timo Bernhard 
new_zealand Brendon Hartley 
new_zealand Earl Bamber 
Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 1'26.127 0.338
5 37 china David Cheng 
france Tristan Gommendy 
united_kingdom Alex Brundle 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'33.130 7.341
6 36 france Nicolas Lapierre 
brazil Andre Negrao 
united_states Gustavo Menezes 
Alpine A470 LMP2 1'33.144 7.355
7 26 russia Roman Rusinov 
france Pierre Thiriet 
united_kingdom Alex Lynn 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'33.150 7.361
8 38 united_kingdom Oliver Jarvis 
china Ho-Pin Tung 
france Thomas Laurent 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'33.191 7.402
9 28 france François Perrodo 
france Emmanuel Collard 
france Matthieu Vaxiviere 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'33.720 7.931
10 31 brazil Bruno Senna 
france Julien Canal 
france Nicolas Prost 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'33.793 8.004
11 25 russia Vitaly Petrov 
switzerland Simon Trummer 
mexico Roberto Gonzalez 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'34.318 8.529
12 24 france Jean-Eric Vergne 
united_kingdom Ben Hanley 
united_kingdom Matt Rao 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'34.539 8.750
13 13 brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. 
denmark David Heinemeier Hansson
switzerland Mathias Beche 
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'34.655 8.866
14 71 united_kingdom Sam Bird 
italy Davide Rigon 
Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE PRO 1'39.722 13.933
15 66 germany Stefan Mücke 
france Olivier Pla 
Ford GT LMGTE PRO 1'39.886 14.097
16 92 denmark Michael Christensen 
france Kevin Estre 
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE PRO 1'39.982 14.193
17 91 austria Richard Lietz 
france Frédéric Makowiecki 
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE PRO 1'40.005 14.216
18 97 united_kingdom Darren Turner 
united_kingdom Jonathan Adam 
brazil Daniel Serra 
Aston Martin Vantage LMGTE PRO 1'40.073 14.284
19 67 united_kingdom Harry Tincknell 
guernsey Andy Priaulx 
Ford GT LMGTE PRO 1'40.510 14.721
20 51 united_kingdom James Calado 
italy Alessandro Pier Guidi 
Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE PRO 1'40.793 15.004
21 95 denmark Marco Sorensen 
denmark Nicki Thiim 
Aston Martin Vantage LMGTE PRO 1'40.797 15.008
22 86 united_kingdom Michael Wainwright 
united_kingdom Ben Barker 
australia Nick Foster Jr. 
Porsche 911 RSR (991) LMGTE AM 1'41.069 15.280
23 77 germany Christian Ried 
italy Matteo Cairoli 
germany Marvin Dienst 
Porsche 911 RSR (991) LMGTE AM 1'41.074 15.285
24 61 ireland Matt Griffin 
singapore Mok Weng Sun 
japan Keita Sawa 
Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE AM 1'42.012 16.223
25 54 italy Francesco Castellacci 
spain Miguel Molina 
switzerland Thomas Flohr 
Ferrari 488 GTE LMGTE AM 1'42.033 16.244
26 98 portugal Pedro Lamy 
canada Paul Dalla Lana 
austria Mathias Lauda 
Aston Martin Vantage LMGTE PRO 1'42.709 16.920

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Edition

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