Porsche Tops Friday at Nürburgring

Photo: Porsche

Porsche swept Free Practice 2 on Friday afternoon at the Nürburgring to top the first day of on-track action for the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Brendon Hartley set the fastest time of the session in the 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, after co-driver Timo Bernhard was on top in Free Practice 1 earlier in the day.

The pace improved by almost three seconds with an early lap time of 1:38.663 enough to keep Hartley 0.966 seconds clear of Andre Lotterer in the sister Porsche. 

Anthony Davidson was the fastest Toyota Gazoo Racing driver in third, 1.1 seconds down on the pacesetter, while Kamui Kobayashi put the No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid fourth. 

Ben Hanley led the way in LMP2 for G-Drive Racing, improving by six tenths compared to Bruno Senna in the morning, while the No. 13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07 Gibson was second.

Porsche GT Team topped the GTE-Pro ranks with its No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz. 

The Frenchman posted a time almost one second quicker than Davide Rigon’s FP1-topping time. 

Miguel Molina took Spirit of Race to the top of GTE-Am, meanwhile.

The session was red-flagged for ten minutes after a German photographer entered an unauthorized zone.

Free Practice 3 will take place at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, followed by qualifying at 2:55 p.m.

RESULTS: Free Practice 2

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.