Kubica pushes Ferrari to the top in second Monza WEC practice

Robert Kubica topped Free Practice 2 for the 6 Hours of Monza, as wet conditions continued to feature during preparations for the FIA World Endurance Championship season finale.

The 90-minute session began in conditions similar to those encountered during this morning’s FP1, although the track dried sufficiently for the majority of the field to switch to slick tires in the closing stages. Team WRT’s No. 32 BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo led the way in making the change.

The switch prompted a rapid improvement in lap times during the final 10 minutes, with Kubica initially posting a 1m39.454s in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P to displace the wet-weather benchmark set by Alpine Endurance Team’s Victor Martins. Kubica went even faster on his next lap, setting a 1m38.143s that ultimately stood as the fastest time of the session.

Harry Tincknell was second fastest, 0.796s behind, in the No. 007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, ahead of Raffaele Marciello in the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8.

Martins improved on slick tires to finish fourth in the No. 36 Alpine A424, ahead of Mathieu Jaminet’s No. 19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 and Earl Bamber’s No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.

The No. 50 Ferrari, No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8, No. 17 Genesis and No. 35 Alpine completed the top 10. The No. 12 Cadillac, which finished 16th in the overall standings, completed the most laps.

In LMGT3, Proton Competition’s Ford Mustang LMGT3 Evos secured a 1-2 finish after Sebastian Priaulx and Logan Sargeant traded the top spot following the switch to slick tires.

Priaulx ultimately set a 1m50.352s in the No. 77 Mustang, beating his teammate by 0.087s. The two Fords, which ran nose to tail during the closing stages, also led the LMGT3 mileage charts.

Maxime Martin finished third in the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, ahead of the No. 91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 and the pair of Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3s.

FP2 was a clean session, with no red flags and just one full course yellow deployed shortly before the halfway point.

Track action at Monza resumes Saturday morning with Free Practice 3, scheduled to begin at 10:30am local time.

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