Photo: MPS Agency
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA ended the opening day of practice for this week’s FIA World Endurance Championship season opener in Qatar as Alex Lynn topped Wednesday evening’s second session.
Lynn recorded a best time of 1:39.601 early on in the 90-minute session aboard the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R, easily eclipsing the best time set earlier in the day by Ferrari’s James Calado in FP1, although falling short of the best time from the Prologue.
The British driver’s effort was 0.305 seconds faster than Antonio Fuoco aboard the No. 50 Ferrari 499P.
Robin Frijns, fastest in last week’s two-day Prologue test, was third-fastest as he set a 1:40.075 in the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 ahead of the second of the JOTA-run Cadillacs, the No. 38 in which Sebastien Bourdais posted the best time.
Ferrari’s No. 51 car rounded out the top five in the hands of Antonio Giovinazzi.
The best of the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids was sixth courtesy of Brendon Hartley’s best time in the No. 8 car that was 0.904 seconds off the pace, although the No. 7 car was only 13th-fastest, with Nyck de Vries’ best lap coming much later in the session.
Alpine’s pair of A424s were seventh and ninth, split by the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, while BMW’s No. 15 car completed the top ten.
Porsche Penske Motorsport’s pair of factory 963s were only 12th- and 14th-fastest, with Kevin Estre setting the best time in the No. 6 car, 1.321 seconds adrift.
Aston Martin’s No. 009 car returned to action after hitting trouble in the first session, but it was the sister No. 007 that ended up the quicker of the two brand-new Valkyries in 15th, just under two-and-a-half seconds off the pace.
In LMGT3, Sean Gelael sent United Autosports’ No. 95 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo to the head of the order with a best time of 1:54.557, bettering the class benchmark set by AF Corse Ferrari driver Simon Mann in last week’s Prologue.
Ben Barnicoat put the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 second, 0.136 seconds off the pace, while Jose Maria Lopez made a late jump in the sister No. 87 Lexus to go third, a further half a tenth back.
Mann was fourth in the No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 ahead of Davide Rigon’s No. 54 example.
Track action for the Qatar 1812km continues with Free Practice 3, which is due to start Thursday at 12 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).
