Bernhard, Porsche Quickest Friday Afternoon at Paul Ricard

Photo: Porsche

Porsche’s new 919 Hybrid jumped to the top of the time sheets Friday afternoon at Paul Ricard, with Timo Bernhard ending up the quickest in the second FIA WEC test session at The Prologue.

The German reeled off a best time of 1:41.788 in his No. 20 Porsche, edging out the morning pace-setting No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer by 0.285 seconds.

The No. 14 Porsche of Romain Dumas was third quickest with a 1:42.126, while both Toyota TS040 Hybrids were nearly two seconds off the pace in the four-hour session.

LMP2 was again paced by Millennium Racing, but this time Shinji Nakano in the No. 23 Oreca 03 Nissan, who set a 1:48.970. It was 0.114 seconds quicker than the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Morgan-Nissan of Olivier Pla in second.

Porsche Team Manthey and 8Star Motorsports continued to lead the way in GTE-Pro and GTE-Am, thanks to quick laps by Fred Makowiecki and Paolo Ruberti, respectively.

A two-hour night session is on tap for 7 p.m. local.

RESULTS: Test Session 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John