Makowiecki, Porsche End Qatar Prologue Fastest

Porsche Penske Motorsport concluded the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Prologue test in Qatar with the fastest time overall as Frederic Makowiecki again set the pace in the fourth and final session.

Having topped the third session earlier on Tuesday, Makowiecki was again the driver to beat in the final three-hour period as he posted a best time of 1:40.404 aboard the No. 5 Porsche 963, beating the Monday benchmark set by Hertz Team JOTA’s Callum Ilott.

Makowiecki’s best time put him 0.054 seconds clear of the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Alex Lynn, as well as 0.137 seconds up on Ilott’s time, which stood as the third-best of the two-day test at Lusail International Circuit.

JOTA was one of a handful of teams to sit out the final session, having elected instead to take part in the opening session of the test on Monday.

Third in the session was the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P in which Yifei Ye set the best time of 1:40.739, good enough for fifth overall in the test behind the factory-entered No. 51 Ferrari whose best time was set by Antonio Fuoco on Monday evening.

Fuoco made a late jump to fifth in the final session behind the other works Ferrari, the No. 50 car of Antonio Giovinazzi, who posted a best of 1:40.926 but lost a marginally faster time for a track limits infringement.

Porsche’s No. 6 car was sixth-fastest with Laurens Vanthoor at the wheel, but only after a crash at the fast Turn 15 left-hander while Kevin Estre at the wheel. Estre was able to get back to the pits unaided, with the car sustaining only minor bodywork damage.

Peugeot’s two 9X8s were next up in seventh and eighth, Jean-Eric Vergne setting the marque’s best time in the No. 93 car ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne in the sister No. 94.

The top ten was completed by the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche of Julien Andlauer and the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Marco Wittmann.

Toyota had a low-key final session with its pair of GR010 Hybrids, which ended up only 12th and 13th fastest, while the No. 35 Alpine A424 returned to action having suffered engine problems in the third session, ending up 14th.

In the LMGT3 class, it was the D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that set the top time for the second session in a row, this time with Silver-rated Erwan Bastard setting the fastest time of 1:54.778.

However, that was slower than the overall best time of the test, a 1:54.480, which was produced by Gregoire Saucy in the No. 59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo on Monday night.

Augusto Farfus provisionally set the fastest time of the test in the No. 31 WRT BMW M4 GT3, a 1:54.393, but this was scrubbed due to a track limits infringement.

The top three for the session was completed by Francesco Castellacci in the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, 0.282 seconds behind Bastard, and the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Timur Boguslavskiy, who was 0.474 seconds off the pace.

However, with the best times of the test largely coming from the second session on Monday, the overall top three for the test is completed by the No. 87 Lexus of Esteban Masson, with Davide Rigon remaining second-quickest in the No. 54 car.

A single red flag was thrown around halfway through the session as a result of a problem with the race control’s camera system.

Track action for the Qatar 1812km, the first round of the WEC season, begins on Thursday with two practice sessions.

Results: Session 4