Thiriet by TDS Quickest on Saturday at Estoril

Photo: DPPI/Onroak

Thiriet by TDS Racing led the way in practice Saturday at Estoril, as European Le Mans Series teams prepare for tomorrow’s season-ending race.

Tristan Gommendy was quickest in the second and final practice session of the day, reeling off a best lap of 1:31.422 in the No. 46 Ligier JS P2 Nissan.

Gommendy’s time was just 0.033 seconds quicker than the No. 38 Jota Sport Zytek Z11SN Nissan of Filipe Albuquerque, with the morning pace-stting No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03R Nissan ending up third.

Times from the afternoon were significantly quicker than the rain-turned dry morning session, which was interrupted three times for red flags.

SMP Racing topped the time charts again in GTE and GTC, with the Russian squad’s Ferrari 458s looking to be the team to beat on Sunday.

The No. 72 entry of Andrea Bertolini led GTE with a 1:37.712 lap, while it was the No. 71 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 that ended up quickest in GTC, thanks to a 1:39.782 lap time.

All 35 cars turned laps in the afternoon session, which saw a red flag for an off-course excursion by the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche of Erik Maris.

Qualifying is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. local tomorrow, with the Four Hours of Estoril taking the green at 1:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Practice 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