The Prologue concluded this evening with the no8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid Hypercar finishing the fourth and final session of the two-day official test at the top of the timing screens, with Sebastien Buemi posting a 2m04.669 lap.
The Prologue is the first time the new Hypercar category has been seen on track at an official event and teething problems for the brand new GR010 hampered the amount of track time that both the #7 and #8 Toyotas were able to complete.
The #7 GR010 was able to post a best time of 2m05.624 with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel, nearly one second behind the sister Toyota and three tenths behind the #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480-Gibson.
The fastest time of the two days went to the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01-Gibson in the morning session of Day 2, with Nyck de Vries setting a 2m04.168 lap, with the no22 United Autosports Oreca of reigning LMP2 champion Filipe Albuquerque just 0.116 behind the Dutch driver and three tenths ahead of 2014 World Champion Anthony Davidson in the no38 JOTA Oreca-Gibson.
In the LMGTE Pro category 2018/19 World Champion Kevin Estre posted the fastest time of the two days in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, the French drivers time of 2m12.916 in the morning session of Day 2 over 1.2 seconds faster than the second-best time set by his teammate Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of 2017 champions James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi was third fastest with a 2m14.414, two tenths behind the #91 Porsche and nearly three tenths ahead of the no63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
The fastest LMGTE Am time was set on Monday morning by the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, Antonio Fuoco posting a 2m14.509 lap, a time that wasn’t beaten for the rest of The Prologue.
There were several crashes, two on day 1 and two on day 2 that saw the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin and the #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Vantage both go off into the barriers in separate incidents.
The mechanics worked hard to get the cars back out for the second day of running and the TF Sport team were rewarded by Dylan Pereira who put the #33 Vantage at the top of timing screens at the end of the afternoon session.
Day 2 saw the #85 Iron Lynx Ferrari and the no29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca clash, putting both cars into the barriers. The #46 Team Project 1 Porsche was also a casualty of a heavy crash that saw the car sidelined. All the drivers involved in the crashes were all OK.
The Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps weekend will get underway on Thursday 29 April with the first Free Practice session of Round 1 of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship.