Gommendy Tops Final Session; Berthon Quickest After Two Days

Tristan Gommendy in the No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Morgan Nissan was quickest in the final session of the European Le Mans Series Official Test Days at Paul Ricard, but it was Nathanaël Berthon who ended on top of the combined time sheets after five sessions.

Gommendy’s fastest time in the afternoon session was a 1:49.770, still 1.4 seconds slower than yesterday’s fastest time set by Berthon in the No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03 Nissan.

Murphy Prototypes showed it is a force to be reckoned with this season, as the team finished the final session in second place. Rodolfo Gonzalez was the only driver less than a second off the time set by Gommendy. Third fastest driver this afternoon was Gommendy’s teammate Pierre Thiriet, ahead of Jota Sport’s Filipe Albuquerque.

Once more it was a Ferrari 458 Italia leading the GTE field, with Alexander Talkanitsa Jr setting the fastest lap in the No. 56 AT Racing car. Talkanitsa Jr was just seven hundredths of a second faster than Soheil Ayari in the No. 58 Team Sofrev ASP Ferrari and almost a quarter of a second faster than his father.

Behind the two Ferrari’s the Gulf Racing UK and IMSA Performance Matmut Porsches, driven by Adam Carroll and Raymond Narac, finished the final session in third and fourth place. It was the first time this test the Porsches made it into the top four.

In GTC Alessandro Pier Guidi and Dennis Lind made it a one-two for AF Corse. The SMP Racing Ferrari No. 71 ended the session in third, the three cars covered by just over two tenths of a second.

RESULTS: Wednesday Afternoon Session
RESULTS: Combined Times