Hughes Ends Prologue Fastest, Koen Tops Day 2

Jake Hughes ended the two-day European Le Mans Series Prologue in Barcelona with the fastest time despite Rossa Racing by Virage driver Rik Koen setting the pace on the second day.

Algarve Pro Racing driver Hughes impressed when the record 47-car grid assembled together for the first time in Spain as he topped the Monday leaderboard ahead of his sports car debut thanks to a 1:28.667 set in the short evening session in the No. 25 Oreca 07 Gibson.

That time – which was nearly two tenths faster than the quickest lap of the 2025 Prologue – was not bettered during the seven hours of testing on Tuesday, with Koen’s best effort of a 1:29.330 in the morning still over six tenths adrift.

It was therefore Louis Deletraz’s 1:29.120 posted in the opening hour of the Prologue that remained the second fastest on the combined LMP2 leaderboard as the four-time ELMS champion prepares to defend AO by TF’s Pro-Am title success.

Third quickest was another of the Monday evening efforts, the 1:29.137 posted by Paul-Loup Chatin in the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca, while fourth fastest was reigning ELMS champion Esteban Masson in the No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis entry – again from Monday evening.

Only in fifth place on the combined timesheet does the best of Tuesday’s laps appear, the 1:29.330 that Koen – runner-up in last year’s LMP3 standings – posted in the opening minutes of the morning session at the wheel of the Virage-run No. 9 Oreca.

The top six was then completed by Pietro Fittipaldi’s 1:29.349 in the No. 10 Vector Sport machine, which was another lap set on Monday morning.

The Tuesday afternoon session was headed by Theodor Jensen in the No. 37 CLX Ligier with a 1:30.014 that was over a second adrift of Hughes’ outright pace.

While the No. 83 AF Corse Oreca that was plagued by throttle sensor issues on Monday was able to conduct some meaningful running on day two, it was a tough Tuesday for United Autosports.

Its No. 22 Oreca caused one of several red flags during the morning when it caught fire in its pit box with about an hour of the morning session to go. The team said that nobody suffered any injuries in the blaze but the car did not return to the track in the afternoon.

Unlike the top class, the LMP3 Prologue pace was set on Tuesday with a 1:37.324 from Hugo Schwarze in the No. 85 R-ace GP Duqueine D90 Toyota in the afternoon proving to be the division’s fastest time by three tenths.

Second quickest was Tuesday morning pacesetter Daniel Nogales, the 2025 LMP3 runner-up having posted a 1:37.688 in the No. 8 Virage Ligier JS P325 Toyota to cap off a strong start to the second day for the Polish squad.

The best of the Monday times, the 1:38.179 set by Bruno Ribeiro in the evening at the wheel of the No. 17 CLX Motorsport Ligier ended up fourth on the combined times, fractionally slower than the 1:38.162 Alvise Rodella set on Tuesday morning in the No. 5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier.

But the one consistency throughout the Prologue was Laurin Heinrich’s pace at the wheel of the High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo in LMGT3.

The factory Porsche driver set a 1:41.400 early on the first morning that proved to be the quickest in class of the entire test.

However, Heinrich also topped the second day’s leaderboard with a slightly slower 1:41.760.

His class rivals did narrow the gap to the Porsche on day two, with Genesis Hypercar driver Mathys Jaubert finishing up with the second-quickest time thanks to a 1:41.816 he posted on Tuesday morning at the wheel of the No. 57 Kessel Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

More closely-matched Ferraris occupied the next two positions on the combined timesheet with Fran Rueda clocking a 1:41.845 in the sister No. 74 Kessel machine, while Matt Griffin managed a 1:41.865 in the No. 55 Spirit of Race entry – both of those laps also being completed on Tuesday morning.

Best of the other brands was the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, thanks to Charlie Eastwood’s 1:42.110 effort from the opening morning of the Prologue, a lap that was fractionally faster than the 1:42.116 that Harry King achieved in the No. 77 Proton Porsche on Tuesday morning.

The next time the ELMS cars will venture out on track will be for first practice on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Barcelona season-opener. FP1 is due to get under way at 11:50 a.m. local time, 06:50 a.m. EST.

RESULTS: Session 1/Session 2