Porsche Tops Friday Practice in Sao Paulo

Photo: John Dagys

Porsche has shown the early pace at Interlagos, as the pair of 919 Hybrids topped the time charts in Friday’s two Free Practice sessions in preparation for Sunday’s FIA WEC Six Hours of Sao Paulo.

Mark Webber led the way in Friday afternoon’s 90-minute session, posting a 1:18.349 in the No. 20 entry. The Australian’s time was just 0.091 seconds quicker than teammate Romain Dumas, who ended up second quickest of the day.

Audi’s two R18 e-tron quattros have shown improved speed, ending Friday third and fourth quickest overall, and crucially ahead of champions-elect Toyota, which were nearly one-second off the pace.

The No. 13 Rebellion Racing R-One Toyota of Andrea Belicchi topped LMP1-L, while the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan continued to pace LMP2, thanks to Olivier Pla’s 1:24.306 set late in the second session.

Pla’s time was a considerable 1.3 seconds ahead of title rival SMP Racing, which ended up second quickest in class with a 1:25.608 set by Nic Minassian.

Aston Martin Racing was quickest in both GTE-Pro and GTE-Am, with Vantage V8s holding the top-three positions in the overall GTE class.

The No. 99 Craft-Bamboo-backed entry of Fernando Rees led the way with a 1:30.112 lap time, while Pedro Lamy made a late improvement to go quickest in GTE-Am.

No major incidents were reported in either sessions today.

An additional 60-minute Free Practice is on tap for 10 a.m. on Saturday followed by qualifying in the afternoon.

RESULTS: Free Practice 2

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