Estre Leads Calado in Final Spa Practice

Porsche Penske Motorsport driver Kevin Estre led Ferrari’s James Calado in the third and final Free Practice session for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Estre steered the No. 6 Porsche 963 to a best lap of 2:04.125, 0.215 seconds quicker than the best effort posted by Calado in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P.

Mikkel Jensen slotted into third behind the wheel of the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8, with Antonio Fuoco and Dries Vanthoor completing the overall top five.

The pair of Toyota GR010 Hybrids ended the session in sixth and seventh, with Kamui Kobayashi leading stablemate Brendon Hartley.

Charles Milesi was the best Alpine driver in eighth place, with the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Robin Frijns and Callum Ilott’s No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche rounding out the top ten.

In LMGT3, points leader Alex Malykhin set the pace aboard the No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R, posting a 2:20.947.

In the process, he went 0.261 seconds faster than the No. 85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in the hands of Rahel Frey while Daniel Juncadella picked up third aboard the No. 82 TF Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

The black-and-yellow Corvette had a curtailed session after Juncadella’s co-driver Hiroshi Koizumi spun into the gravel at Les Combes, having to be recovered under Full Course Yellow.

Chip Ganassi Racing driver Earl Bamber found the same gravel trap in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R with just a few minutes to go, but was able to rejoin the track without assistance.

The New Zealander’s off-track moment came at practically the same time as a frightening moment for the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche of Oliver Rasmussen at Blanchimont.

The Dane ran wide through the gravel and subsequently heavily bounced across the grass, inflicting bodywork damage to the car that required him to pit and end the session prematurely.

Elsewhere in the Hypercar class, the No. 83 Ferrari completed just ten laps as it spent over half an hour in the garage as the team sought to address brake issues.

It later returned to the track with Robert Kubica at the wheel, posting a 2:11.419 that left it 18th only ahead of the No. 11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione LMH.

With practice completed, the focus now turns to qualifying, which takes place at 2:45 p.m. CEST (8:45 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Free Practice 3