WEC Portimao: Kobayashi heads another Toyota 1-2 in FP2

After Sebastien Buemi had led the way in first practice aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID, Kobayashi took up the early running aboard the #7 machine with a 1m32.155s.

The laptime set on his sixth tour remained unbeaten in the remainder of the 90-minute session.

Hirakawa lapped 0.959s shy in the #8 machine to go second quickest on a 1m33.114s, while the best non-Toyota was 1.146s in arrears.

Miguel Molina set a 1m33.301s aboard the Sebring pole-winning #50 Ferrari 499P, which spun later in the hands of Antonio Fuoco at Turn 13.

The effort moved him ahead of stablemate Alessandro Pier Guidi aboard the #51 machine. James Calado later improved its best time, without gaining a position on the leaderboard.

After losing time early in the session to an oil leak, Nico Muller posted the fifth-fastest time in the #94 Peugeot 9X8, 1.674s slower than Kobayashi’s best.

Dane Cameron’s Porsche 963 LMDh split the two Peugeots in sixth, the American’s #5 machine slotting ahead of Paul di Resta.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

A late improvement from Alex Lynn moved the Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh ahead of the solo Glickenhaus-Pipo 007, Lynn posting a 1m34.103s in the dying moments of the session to usurp Romain Dumas by 0.039s.

The second Porsche of Kevin Estre was tenth, 0.28s down on its sister car, while Vanwall brought up the rear of the Hypercar field.

The Gibson-powered Vandervell 680 LMH in Tom Dillmann’s hands was slower than the two leading LMP2 cars.

Gabriel Aubry claimed the top spot in LMP2 with a 1m34.609s aboard his Vector Sport ORECA-Gibson 07, leading Inter Europol Competition’s Albert Costa by 0.082s.

After setting the early pace, Mirko Bortolotti was third fastest in the #63 Prema ORECA, 0.228s slower than Aubry.

Robin Frijns’ #31 WRT ORECA beat the #23 United Autosports example driven by Oliver Jarvis. 

Ferrari swept the top three positions in GTE Am, as Daniel Serra repeated his FP1 form aboard the Kessel Racing 488 GTE Evo.

The Brazilian's 1m41.209s usurped the time set by Lilou Wadoux’s #83 AF Corse machine by 0.046s.

Davide Rigon completed a strong session for Ferrari by moving his #54 AF entry ahead of Ben Barker’s GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19.

Full WEC Portimao FP2 results:

Cla	Drivers		Car	Class	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez		Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'32.155
2	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa		Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'33.114	0.959	0.959
3	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen		Ferrari 499P	HYPERCAR	1'33.301	1.146	0.187
4	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi		Ferrari 499P	HYPERCAR	1'33.431	1.276	0.130
5	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller		Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'33.829	1.674	0.398
6	Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki		Porsche 963	HYPERCAR	1'34.076	1.921	0.247
7	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne		Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'34.101	1.946	0.025
8	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook		Cadillac V-Series.R	HYPERCAR	1'34.103	1.948	0.002
9	Romain Dumas Ryan Briscoe Olivier Pla		Glickenhaus 007	HYPERCAR	1'34.142	1.987	0.039
10	Kevin Estre Andre Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor		Porsche 963	HYPERCAR	1'34.356	2.201	0.214
11	Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Gabriel Aubry		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.609	2.454	0.253
12	Jakub Smiechowski Fabio Scherer Albert Costa		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.691	2.536	0.082
13	Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri Jacques Villeneuve		Vanwall Vandervell 680	HYPERCAR	1'34.745	2.590	0.054
14	Doriane Pin Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.837	2.682	0.092
15	Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg Robin Frijns		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'35.039	2.884	0.202
16	Josh Pierson Giedo van der Garde Oliver Jarvis		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'35.149	2.994	0.110
17	Filip Ugran Juan Manuel Correa Bent Viscaal		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'35.199	3.044	0.050
18	Rui Andrade Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'35.200	3.045	0.001
19	David Heinemeier Hansson Pietro Fittipaldi Oliver Rasmussen		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'35.450	3.295	0.250
20	Matthieu Vaxiviere Julien Canal Charles Milesi		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'35.701	3.546	0.251
21	David Beckmann Ye Yifei Antonio Felix da Costa		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'36.018	3.863	0.317
22	Frederick Lubin Philip Hanson Ben Hanley		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'36.098	3.943	0.080
23	Andre Negrao Memo Rojas Olli Caldwell		Oreca 07	LMP2	1'36.776	4.621	0.678
24	Takeshi Kimura Scott Huffaker Daniel Serra		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.209	9.054	4.433
25	Luis Perez Companc Lilou Wadoux Alessio Rovera		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.255	9.100	0.046
26	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.319	9.164	0.064
27	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'41.523	9.368	0.204
28	Ben Keating Nicolas Varrone Nick Catsburg		Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE AM	1'41.635	9.480	0.112
29	Diego Alessi Simon Mann Ulysse De		Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.694	9.539	0.059
30	Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting Rahel Frey		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'41.710	9.555	0.016
31	Miguel Pedro Guilherme Moura Matteo Cairoli		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'41.998	9.843	0.288
32	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'42.018	9.863	0.020
33	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Harry Tincknell		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'42.065	9.910	0.047
34	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charles Eastwood		Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'42.149	9.994	0.084
35	Christian Ried Mikkel Pedersen Julien Andlauer		Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'42.229	10.074	0.080
36	Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson Tomonobu Fujii		Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'42.314	10.159	0.085
37	Paul Dalla Lana Axcil Jefferies Nicki Thiim		Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'42.673	10.518	0.359
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