Photo courtesy of Ferrari
Fuoco keeps Ferrari ahead in second Imola WEC practice
Following Yifei Ye's hot lap in the privateer 499P top Free Practice 1 earlier today, Antonio Fuoco continued Ferrari's fast start to the weekend on home soil with a 1m30.957s in the No. 50 factory car during FP2 for the FIA WEC at Imola.
With that lap, Fuoco became the first driver to dip into the 1m30s this weekend, and with qualifying on the horizon, the team will surely be confident that the 499Ps can challenge for pole at this stage.
Kevin Estre came closest, with a 1m31.299s in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, splitting the two fastest Ferraris. The FP1-topping privately-entered AF Corse No. 83 ended up three-tenths off and third with a 1m31.331s.
It was a better session for Toyota, with its No. 8 GR010 HYBRID ending the day with a best time of 1m31.729s to go fourth, half a second up on the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 that rounded out the top five.
After producing a head-turning lap to go fourth fastest in FP1, the Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63 could only manage the 15th-fastest time in the second 90-minute session, lapping fractionally quicker than the Cadillac.
There's been a lot of head-scratching for the Ganassi crew thus far, the team struggling to find a setup that works despite having reportedly tested in similar conditions here last year. The No. 5 Porsche also failed to show outright pace, ending up 18th and two seconds off the benchmark time.
In LMGT3, TF Sport once again took the headlines with Charlie Eastwood setting a 1m41.986s in the No. 81 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R. It would be the only time under 1m42s in the class for the day.
This time though it was not a 1-2 for the GM brand, as the No. 55 Vista AF Corse 488 LMGT3 ended up second, lapping faster than the No. 82 TF Sport Corvette which slotted in third. Heart of Racing was fourth, with the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari fifth.
It was a troubled session for for United Autosports. Its No. 59 McLaren GT3 EVO finished the day at the bottom of the times after suffering an oil leak which limited the car to just eight laps in the session.
Track action continues for the WEC teams tomorrow with Free Practice 3 at 11:10am local time.
Stephen Kilbey
UK-based Stephen Kilbey is RACER.com's FIA World Endurance Championship correspondent, and is also Deputy Editor of Dailysportscar.com He has a first-class honours degree in Sports Journalism and is a previous winner of the UK Guild of Motoring Writers Sir William Lyons Award.
Read Stephen Kilbey's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.