WEC Spa: Ferrari leads the way in FP1 as new manufacturers impress

Ferrari maintained its position at the top of the order in the World Endurance Championship Hypercar class during the opening session of practice for Saturday’s Spa 6 Hours.

Antonio Fuoco led the way in the 90-minute session with a time that gave him a margin of more than a second over team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi.

Fuoco posted a 2m05.690s early in Free Practice 1 aboard the #50 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar, which compared with Giovinazzi’s 2m06.831s in the #51.

The times from Ferrari, which dominated last month’s Imola WEC round before strategic errors cost it victory, were some way behind those set in first free practice 12 months ago at Spa.

The fastest Ferrari driver was Fuoco with a 2m04.632s at a time when the 499P was 13kg lighter under the Balance of Performance.

Two of the manufacturers with new Hypercar contenders this year led the chase of Ferrari on the commencement of track activities at the third round of this year’s WEC.

Daniil Kvyat took third spot in the factory Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 LMDh, just ahead of Nicolas Lapierre in the best of the Signtech-run Alpine A424 LMDhs.

Kvyat’s 2m06.998s left him 1.3s off the pace, while Lapierre was only two hundredths behind on 2m07.020s.

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Yifei Ye took fifth position in the Ferrari run by AF on a customer basis, courtesy of a 2m07.087s, while Neel Jani rounded out the top six with a 2m07.180s aboard the privateer Proton Porsche 963 LMDh.

The two factory Porsches took seventh and eighth, Laurens Vanthoor’s 2m07.393s giving him a margin of one tenth over Frederic Makowiecki, who ended up on 2m07.522s.

The top Peugeot 2024 9X8 LMH was the #93 car in which Nico Muller posted a 2m07.580s to take ninth, while the second Alpine rounded out the top 10 with a 2m07.633s from Paul-Loup Chatin.

Toyota, winner last time out in the WEC at Imola in April, took 11th in the times with a lap from Sebastien Buemi that was nearly two seconds off the pace around the 4.35-mile Spa lap.

Cadillac ended up 13th with its solo Ganassi-run V-Series.R driven by Earl Bamber, while quickest of the Jota customer Porsches was the British team’s #12 entry in the hands of Callum Ilott.

Isotta Frachini brought up the rear in Hypercar with its Tipo 6 LMH Competizione driven by Jean-Karl Vernay.

Corvette fastest in LMGT3

The TF Sport Chevrolet team led the way in LMGT3 with Daniel Juncadella.

The Spaniard’s 2m21.885s at the wheel of the #82 Chevrolet Corvette Z.06 GT3-R put him more than three tenths up on the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 in which Davide Rigon got down to 2m22.220s.

Aston Martin took third with the Heart of Racing entry with Daniel Mancinelli at the wheel, with Michele Gatting fourth driving the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

BMW, which claimed class honours at Imola, lined up fifth with Maxim Martin, while the United Autosports McLaren rounded out the top six.

Second free practice begins at 17:30 local time.

FP1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	34	2'05.690		200.607
2	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	38	+1.141 2'06.831	1.141	198.803
3	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti A. Caldarelli D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	36	+1.308 2'06.998	0.167	198.541
4	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	34	+1.330 2'07.020	0.022	198.507
5	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	34	+1.397 2'07.087	0.067	198.402
6	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	30	+1.490 2'07.180	0.093	198.257
7	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	37	+1.703 2'07.393	0.213	197.926
8	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	33	+1.832 2'07.522	0.129	197.725
9	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller	Peugeot 9X8 2024	27	+1.890 2'07.580	0.058	197.635
10	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	P. Chatin J. Gounon C. Milesi	Alpine A424	33	+1.943 2'07.633	0.053	197.553
11	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	35	+1.986 2'07.676	0.043	197.487
12	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	33	+2.051 2'07.741	0.065	197.386
13	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	38	+2.074 2'07.764	0.023	197.351
14	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	35	+2.174 2'07.864	0.100	197.197
15	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott	Porsche 963	32	+2.286 2'07.976	0.112	197.024
16	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	36	+2.461 2'08.151	0.175	196.755
17	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval	Peugeot 9X8 2024	29	+2.675 2'08.365	0.214	196.427
18	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	29	+2.981 2'08.671	0.306	195.960
19	Isotta Fraschini HYPERCAR	11	A. Serravalle C. Bennett J. Vernay	Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione LMH	32	+4.021 2'09.711	1.040	194.389
20	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	33	+15.195 2'20.885	11.174	178.971
21	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	31	+15.530 2'21.220	0.335	178.546
22	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	32	+15.697 2'21.387	0.167	178.336
23	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy R. Frey M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	27	+16.196 2'21.886	0.499	177.708
24	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	33	+16.250 2'21.940	0.054	177.641
25	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	27	+16.345 2'22.035	0.095	177.522
26	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	29	+16.400 2'22.090	0.055	177.453
27	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	31	+16.585 2'22.275	0.185	177.222
28	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	31	+16.616 2'22.306	0.031	177.184
29	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	33	+16.618 2'22.308	0.002	177.181
30	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	29	+16.777 2'22.467	0.159	176.984
31	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	33	+16.797 2'22.487	0.020	176.959
32	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	G. Roda M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	26	+16.943 2'22.633	0.146	176.778
33	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	29	+17.030 2'22.720	0.087	176.670
34	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	31	+17.267 2'22.957	0.237	176.377
35	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	24	+17.617 2'23.307	0.350	175.946
36	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	34	+17.978 2'23.668	0.361	175.504
37	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin T. Boguslavskiy R. Miyata	Lexus RC F GT3	22	+18.857 2'24.547	0.879	174.437
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