1812 Kilometers of Qatar (Free Practice 1 and 2): Porsche on top
The first free practice sessions of Qatar's 1812-kilometer race, the first round of what promises to be a crazy season, were cheerfully dominated by Porsche, which is showing off its skills to the competition. In LMGT3, Vista AF Corse was one of the front-runners.
The beasts are unleashed: the fourteen constructors of the WEC took to the track on Friday to continue their exploration of the Losail circuit, newly added to the calendar.
In Hypercar, free practice 1 and 2 saw the official Porsches taking turns to lead. Car number 5 driven by Campbell/Makowiecki/Christiensen took the lead in FP1 over the threatening Ferrari number 51 (Calado/Pier Guidi/Giovinazzi) with a not very revealing time (1:42.486).
In that same session, Toyota was not helped by its Balance of Performance (BoP) and consistently stayed outside the Top 5, with a race pace that was not necessarily any more impressive. Peugeot also opted for discretion, with their only reference being the 1:43.414 lap time of car number 94 (Vandoorne/Duval/Di Resta).
Among the new arrivals, things were more complicated: Isotta Fraschini brought up the rear, managing to complete 30 laps but was outpaced by Alpine, Lamborghini, and BMW. Despite completing a large number of laps for the three mentioned brands, they were unable to match the performance of the top performers.
In FP2, Porsche upped the ante, striking even harder: car #6 of Lotterer/Vanthoor/Estre was the only one to break the 1:40 mark (in 1:39.990), surpassing a Peugeot #93 that is showing its teeth (1:40.772). There were a total of four Porsches in the Top 6, with Proton #99 at the bottom of the table.
Lamborghini #63 (Bortolotti/Mortara/Kvyat) stopped in the third sector, causing a red flag.
LMGT3: watch out for the Ferraris!
The new 296 GT3 from Maranello is doing wonders, as both cars, No. 55 and No. 54, dominated the time sheet with a 1:55.190 for the first in FP2. All this in an extremely tight field.
The McLaren from United Autosport No. 59 took the lead in FP1, ahead of the two Ferraris in the same order.
The Iron Ladies still have to come to grips with the Lamborghini Huracan No.85 and could not do better, in the combined FP1 and FP2, than a 13th place.
The French drivers from Akkodis closed the pack in FP1 with their two Lexus cars (No. 87 and No. 78), while Valentino Rossi and his teammates from the WRT BMW No. 46 had to settle for the 7th fastest time in FP1 and 9th in FP2.
The third and final free practice session will start this Wednesday at 8:50 am.
