Will Stevens puts Cadillac on top in final WEC practice at Spa

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA took a turn at the top in Free Practice 3 for the FIA WEC Hypercar teams at Spa on Friday morning, with the No.12 V-Series.R topping the times with a 2m02.379s from Will Stevens ahead of Qualifying.  

Stevens' hot lap came at the start of the session, surpassing AF Corse’s Robert Kubica by only 0.023s for the top spot. But the Briton's tour wasn’t the fastest of the event so far; that accolade goes to Alpine’s Jules Gounon yesterday, who set a 2m01.816s in Free Practice 2.

Kubica’s No. 83 Ferrari 499P held onto second, as, notably, Kubica and the No. 51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi started their push laps one lap before the rest of the Hypercar field.

Harry Tincknell put the No. 007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in third, 0.090s off Stevens, with Jack Aitken, here for his first WEC start of the season, fourth in the No. 38 Cadillac.

Giovinazzi ended up fifth, ahead of the sister No. 50 Ferrari, which completed the most laps.

The pair of French marques completed the top 10, with the No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 heading the No. 35 Alpine Endurance Team A424, No. 94 Peugeot and No. 36 Alpine.

It was another strong showing from Genesis Magma Racing, with Mathieu Jaminet placing the No. 19 GMR-001 in 11th with a 2:03.104, whilst Toyota Racing again failed to factor on single lap pace in the top 10 with the best of its TR010 Hybrids 13th.

In LMGT3, McLaren partner team Garage 59 rebounded from a difficult Thursday to finish this morning 1-2 with its pair of LMGT3 Evos.

Defending Spa pole sitter Finn Gehrsitz set a 2m17.068s in the No. 58 McLaren, with his teammate Tom Fleming coming up just 0.004s short in the No. 58 entry.

Simon Mann was third fastest in the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo, ahead of Hadrien David’s No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3.

The No. 92 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 was fifth-fastest, but also missed the end of the session after Richard Lietz pulled off the circuit at Turn 8 with 13 minutes to go, which brought out the most significant of three Full Course Yellows.

The other FCYs were both brief and caused by the need to collect debris from Eau Rouge and Pouhon, respectively.