The no2 Porsche 919 hybrid was the quickest car on track in the first 90-minute free practice session at the Nürburgring ahead of this weekend’s fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The session was cut short with three minutes remaining after an incident between Marvin Dienst in the LMGTE Am class leading no77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche and Julian Canal in the fastest LMP2 class entry, the no31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca, at turn five. The incident brought out the red flags to end Free Practice to recover the two cars.
24 Hours of Le Mans champion Timo Bernhard set the fastest time of 1m41.612, just two tenths faster than the no8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, with Sebastien Buemi posting a 1m41.816s lap around the 5.3km German circuit.
Ferrrari were the quickest of the four LMGTE manufacturers with the no71 AF Corse Ferrari F488 of Davide Rigon out in front by just 0.1 seconds after the Italian set a 1m57.170 lap compared to the 1m57.307 set by Kevin Estre in the no92 Porsche 911.
Bruno Senna was the quickest driver in the LMP2 category, the Brazilian posting a 1m47.717 in the no31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca-Gibson, ahead of Ben Hanley in the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca-Gibson, the Briton setting a 1m48.379 on his WEC debut for the Russian team.
Marco Cairoli continues impressive WEC rookie campaign as he topped LMGTE Am class for Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche with a 1m59.208, just 0.138s ahead of the no54 Spirit of Race Ferrari.
