Toyota has topped the time charts on Friday in Silverstone, with the No. 8 car quickest in both Free Practice sessions for Sunday’s opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.
Kazuki Nakajima’s 1:38.210 lap time in the No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, set early in the second Free Practice session, stood as the quickest of the day, and a considerable 1.894 seconds faster than teammate Sebastien Buemi’s time in the morning.
The No. 7 car made it a 1-2 for Toyota with a 1:38.444 lap time, just two tenths off, followed by both Porsche 919 Hybrids.
Earl Bamber’s No. 2 Porsche was more than two seconds slower than the quickest Toyota, while the sister No. 1 entry of Andre Lotterer was almost three seconds off pace.
G-Drive Racing led the way in LMP2 with a 1:44.874 from Alex Lynn in FP2 ending up quickest of the day in class.
The TDS Racing-run Oreca 07 Gibson was followed by the No. 36 Signatech Alpine A470 Gibson, which spun at the beginning of the 90-minute session, followed by the FP1 pace-setting No. 13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca in third.
Porsche led the way in GTE-Pro, with the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR of Kevin Estre laying down a 1:57.765 to go quickest in class.
Estre edged out the No. 97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE of by almost two tenths, with the sister No. 95 entry ending the day third on the time sheets.
GTE-Am was led by the No. 86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR, although Pedro Lamy’s 1:59.342 lap from FP1 remained as quickest of the day in class.
A final 60-minute Free Practice session is on tap for Saturday at 9.40 a.m. local time.
RESULTS: Free Practice 2
