Ferrari Leads FP2 as Porsche, Cadillac Encounter Issues

Ferrari AF Corse driver Antonio Giovinazzi led an incident-filled second Free Practice session at Spa-Francorchamps as both factory Porsche 963s and one of the Cadillac V-Series.Rs encountered issues.

Giovinazzi led a one-two for the pair of Ferrari 499Ps with a time of 2:01.871 on board the No. 51 car, beating teammate Miguel Molina in the No. 50 machine by 1.278 seconds.

The 90-minute Thursday afternoon session was interrupted by two red flags, including one at the end of the session for an incident involving two Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.

The first red flag occurred after 15 minutes when Dane Cameron stopped the No. 5 Porsche 963 on the run down to Eau Rouge after a breakage on the driveshaft.

Later on, Renger van der Zande brought Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 3 Cadillac to a halt at Fagnes. The car reportedly experienced a fire, however the team only stated that a “self-induced mistake” had been made without elaborating on the cause.

After a lengthy red flag, track action resumed for only eight minutes until the other Penske-run Porsche, driven by Andre Lotterer, stopped due to an issue with the spec LMDh hybrid system. This triggered a short Full Course Yellow period.

In response to the delays, race control extended the session by 10 minutes, but it was ultimately brought to a close nine minutes before its new finish time when GTE-Am drivers Thomas Flohr and Diego Alessi came together.

Both the No. 54 and No. 21 AF Corse Ferraris were brought back to the paddock with extensive damage.

At the close of play, the Ferraris ranked first and second in Hypercar, ahead of Earl Bamber who registered a time of 2:03.338 in the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.

The best of the Toyota GR010 Hybrids followed in fourth after Ryo Hirakawa posted a 2:04.380 in the Japanese manufacturer’s No. 8 car.

Jean-Eric Vergne completed the top five in the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8, beating Glickenhaus Racing’s Spa pole-sitter from last year Olivier Pla by three-tenths of a second.

In LMP2, Robin Frijns set the pace for Team WRT with a 2:06.108 effort behind the wheel of the No. 31 Oreca 07 Gibson.

Filipe Albuquerque came through in second for United Autosports, splitting the two WRT cars as Louis Deletraz placed third for the Belgian squad.

The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo set the quickest lap time in GTE-Am prior to Flohr’s accident at the end of the session.

Davide Rigon clocked a 2:15.736 to lead a second Ferrari one-two in the three-category field as Daniel Serra put Kessel Racing in second.

Riccardo Pera was the best non-Ferrari GTE-Am driver in third for Porsche team GR Racing.

RESULTS: Free Practice 2