Porsche’s championship-leading No. 6 963 in the hands of Kevin Estre set the fastest time on Thursday to lead the second Practice session at the 6 Hours of Spa WEC.
Kevin Estre reeled off a 2:04.162 to go quickest in second practice aboard the No. 6 Porsche 963, beating the No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco by 0.123 seconds. Additionally, the Frenchman’s effort was over a second and a half faster than the time Fuoco posted to lead the opening Free Practice session for Spa WEC earlier on Thursday.
The times as expected dropped in the Hypercar class as the track rubbers in and teams improve their base setup. The Cadillac Racing V-Series.R also came within two-tenths of Estre as Alex Lynn put the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac into third place, ahead of the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid driven by Kamui Kobayashi.
Callum Ilott rounded out the top five for Hertz Team JOTA, as the top 5 hypercars all set times in the 2:04s. Neel Jani posted a 2:05.098 behind the wheel of the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche to go sixth.
Brendon Hartley took seventh aboard the No. 8 Toyota, with the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 and No. 51 Ferrari completing the overall top ten. Further down the list, after finishing up third in FP1 the Lamborghini SC63 toured the circuit in 2:06.107, and ended up 11th with the quickest WRT BMW 15th.
In LMGT3, the fastest time didn’t eclipse the best lap from FP1 – a 2:20.885 from Daniel Juncadella in the #82 TF Sport Corvette.
Akkodis ASP Team led the way in the LMGT3 category, with late stand-in Clemens Schmid steering the No. 78 Lexus RC F GT3 to a 2:21.257. For the first time this season, a Lexus found itself at the top of the timing screens, with the WEC rookiesetting the fastest lap during an eight-lap stint in the car.
In the process, the Austrian driver outpaced the No. 85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Sarah Bovy by 0.115 seconds.
Valentino Rossi slotted into third behind the wheel of the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, ahead of TF Sport’s Sebastien Baud and the second Akkodis ASP Lexus of Esteban Masson. The top eight cars set times within a second of one another.
The 90-minute session was completed without any red flags, although a notable Full Course Yellow was triggered when Darren Leung spun the No. 31 Team WRT BMW into the gravel at La Source.
