Estre keeps Porsche ahead in second Interlagos practice

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No. 6 963 topped the times in the second Free Practice session of the 6 Hours of São Paulo weekend, which was held in warm conditions.

After Laurens Vanthoor set the pace in FP1 earlier in the day, it was his co-driver Kevin Estre who led the way for the German marque this time. The Frenchman’s best time was a 1m23.508s, which is significantly faster than the best time from the first session on the newly resurfaced Autodromo: a 1m25.1s.

The sister No. 5 Porsche ended up second and a tenth off after Julian Andlauer reeled off a 1m23.612s.

BMW Team WRT’s No. 15 M Hybrid V8 came closest to the Porsches, with Kevin Magnussen completing a 1m23.618s.

The No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac slotted in fourth, while the No. 007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie got within four tenths of the best time with a 1m24.006s from Harry Tincknell.

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In LMGT3, Eduardo Barrichello broke the AKKODIS ASP deadlock with a 1m34.493s to put Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage clear at the top by under a tenth midway through the 90-minute session.

That hot lap from the Brazilian pushed the No. 78 AKKODIS ASP Lexus to second and the No. 87 sister car, which ran quickest in FP1, to third. Like Hypercar, the best time in the GT class was faster than the benchmark set in the opening session, with the teams getting up to speed with the new asphalt and Hard tire from Goodyear.

United Autosports’ No. 59 McLaren GT3 Evo was fourth, with the No. 81 TF Sport Corvette fifth.

The only incident of the session occurred at Turn 4 with 36 minutes remaining. Iron Lynx racer Andrew Gilbert lost the rear end of the No. 61 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 on his out lap and went nose-first into the wall on the inside of the circuit.

He did, however, eventually return to the pits under his own power, but the car didn’t return to the track again after being pushed back into its garage.

Track action continues tomorrow at 10:10am local time with Free Practice 3.

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