Hartley Tops Incident-Filled Saturday Morning Test Session

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

A different day and a different Porsche has topped the time charts at Paul Ricard, with the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid leading the way in the second and final day of The Prologue.

Brendon Hartley took the No. 1 car to a quick lap of 1:37.886 in the four-hour session, giving the car its first laps of the weekend following Friday’s test for the No. 2 entry.

Hartley was 0.387 seconds clear of the No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Stephane Sarrazin in second, but it wasn’t without incident.

The Toyota, with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel, stopped on track after bodywork had become dislodged in the final hour of the test. The car did not return to action.

After swapping cars overnight, the new No. 7 Audi R18 got its first laps on Saturday morning, finishing the second third, but a distant 1.6 seconds away from the Porsche.

Gustavo Menezes again led the way in LMP2, with the Silver-rated American taking his No. 36 Signatech Alpine A460 Nissan to a quick lap of 1:46.974.

It was 0.674 seconds quicker than the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 05 Nissan in second.

AF Corse (GTE-Pro) and Gulf Racing (GTE-Am) led the production-based ranks.

The session saw an incident between Tor Graves’ Manor WEC Oreca 05 Nissan and the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of Sam Bird, who made contact in Turn 9.

Both cars sustained bodywork damage.

A final three-hour test session is set for 2 p.m. local time.

RESULTS: Test Session 4

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