Toyota 1-2 in Nurburgring FP3

Toyota Gazoo Racing set the pace in the third and final free practice session of the WEC 6 Hours of Nurburgring weekend, with Jose Maria Lopez in the No. 7 TS050 HYBRID setting a 1m38.969s. Early flyers from Lopez, and teammate Kazuki Nakajima in the sister car made it a 1-2 for Toyota, which stood for almost the entire session.

Nakajima's 1m39.396s, good enough for second place in the overall standings, was over a second than the best of the Porsches.

The fastest of the Porsche LMP Team, which topped both FP1 and 2 yesterday at the 'Ring with its new high-downforce aero kit, was Timo Bernhard, who reeled off a 1m40.635s in the No. 2 Porsche to go third. The No. 1 finished up fourth, a tenth back.

In LMP2, Bruno Senna put the No. 31 Rebellion ORECA 07 Gibson on top, with a 1m46.017s. The Brazilian's time was two tenths faster than the other team's best time. The nearest challenger was the No. 35 Signatech Alpine A470 of Nelson Panciatici, who managed a 1m46.221s.

Completing the top three was the Le Mans winners in the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA 07, Oliver Jarvis setting the car's best lap, a 1m46.341s.

It was tight in the second prototype division, with the top eight within a second of each other, and 10 of the 11 within two seconds.

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GTE Pro was also hotly contested too, with the top five within seven tenths. The No. 66 Ford went fastest in the session, which saw a flurry of quick times toward the end of the hour. Olivier Pla put the lead Ford on top with a 1m54.875s, ahead of the two AF Corse Ferraris that eventually slotted in second and third.

The two 488s were three and four tenths back respectively, with the No. 71 finishing with a 1m155.221s, and the No. 51 with a 1m55.326s. The No. 71 didn't finish the session, though, after Toni Vilander was asked by the team to push hard in the final minutes. Vilander then missed the pit entry, and was unable to bring the car in, stopping by the side of the circuit on the run down to the bottom hairpin out of fuel. That was the only notable incident in the session, which ran with no red flags.

Matteo Cairoli topped GTE Am in the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche with a 1m56.882s, two tenths faster than Miguel Molina's best driving the No. 54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488. The No. 98 Aston Martin took a top three spot, the entire class separated by just 1.3 seconds.

UP NEXT: Qualifying for the FIA WEC runners is set to start later today at 2:55 p.m. local time.