Spa Thursday Notebook

***Porsche driver Kevin Estre set the fastest time across two practice sessions for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, recording a best time of 2:01.475 aboard the No. 6 Porsche 963. That compares to a 2:04.162 with which Estre topped the times during Thursday practice last year, with significant portions of the Belgian track having been resurfaced since last year’s race.

***There was a similarly large improvement in the LMGT3 times, as Zach Robichon’s new benchmark of 2:18.378 in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo easily eclipsed Dani Juncadella’s chart-topping 2:20.885 effort in first practice last season.

***Of the three crashes that caused red flags in second practice, the second involving the No. 60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo appeared to cause the most damage as Stephen Grove suffered a head-on impact with the barriers at Eau Rouge. A spokeperson for Iron Lynx told Sportscar365 that the team is repairing the damaged No. 60 car with the goal of taking part in qualifying on Friday afternoon.

***Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA driver Alex Lynn predicted that times during Friday’s Hypercar qualifying session could dip below the two-minute mark as a result of the track resurfacing. The British racer drew from his experience at last year’s European Le Mans Series round, which was held in August after the work was done.

***Lynn told Sportscar365: “It was wildly faster than before. And obviously the tire deg was really high on the old tarmac, so now it’s a lot better.”

**Pascal Wehrlein missed the opening Free Practice session on Thursday, turning his first laps aboard the No. 6 Porsche 963 during the heavily interrupted second session. The German revealed to Sportscar365 that Formula E simulator duties ahead of next week’s Tokyo E-Prix was the cause for his late arrival.

***Wehrlein said: “As we have the race in Tokyo next week and we just came home from Monaco last weekend and the whole team is traveling already on Monday, that was the only chance to prepare both. It was the best compromise for both championships that I did the sim yesterday and a bit this morning and then arrived for FP2.”

***Nico Mueller, who is part of the No. 5 Porsche crew this weekend as part of his preparations for his reserve driver role at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, said he could notice some differences between the 963 and the Peugeot 9X8 he drove last year.

***The Swiss driver told reporters: “It is different, but it’s not night and day. Obviously it’s LMH versus LMDh, there are some differences in specification that you can feel when you drive, but the adaptation has been very smooth so far. I felt quite comfortable. For sure there is more to learn, about using the systems to put the car in its optimal working window, and I still have quite limited mileage in the car, but so far so good.”

***Of the two Porsche stand-ins, Wehrlein set the faster time on Thursday, with a 2:03.747 comparing to Mueller’s best lap of 2:04.065, both coming in FP2.

***An FIA spokesperson has confirmed to Sportscar365 that the reference weight used to calculate driver compensation weights in the Hypercar class has been reduced from 82 kg to 78 kg, starting this weekend. The reduced figure only applies in the race itself, while the reference weight in LMGT3 remains unchanged.

***The Toyota GR010 Hybrid is running at a maximum power below 250km/h of 480kW according to this weekend’s Balance of Performance, which is 13kW lower than the lowest value assigned to the Japanese car last year at Fuji — albeit offset by a 8.3 percent (39.8kW) increase above the so-called Power Gain threshold.

***Ryo Hirakawa explained that the Toyota crosses the 250km/h mark before arriving at Eau Rouge, carrying its increased power all the way along the Kemmel Straight, and from Blanchimont until the Bus Stop chicane. “This track has more areas where you are above 250km/h compared to Imola,” Hirakawa told Sportscar365. “You can really feel it. It’s not as powerful as DRS [in Formula 1], but you feel a kick.”

***Hirakawa missed the pre-Spa test in early April as he was instead attending the F1 Japanese Grand Prix, where he participating in a practice session with Alpine. “I only experienced the new tarmac today in FP1, but I got up to speed quite quickly,” he said.

***NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson was spotted in the paddock on Thursday. The American driver is present at Spa as a guest of Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA.

***JOTA co-founder Sam Hignett admits that the previous round at Imola is likely to be the worst circuit on the WEC calendar for the team, as the two Cadillac V-Series.Rs finished 10th and 16th. He told Sportscar365: “We aren’t very good at Imola. We only raced there once in ELMS, once in GTs, and then once before in Hypercar. And you do build up an innate knowledge of these circuits. We don’t have that knowledge yet.”

***Cadillac was among a minority of Hypercar manufacturers to miss last month’s test at Spa, as the team prioritized preparation for the Imola round with a test at the Italian circuit in March. “It’s determined by where engineering wants to go, and where logistics allows us to go,” said Hignett. “You have to weigh up the two. You’d love to do both [the Imola and Spa tests] but you just can’t turn around the cars quickly enough.”

***Hignett predicts that Spa will be a much more competitive circuit for Cadillac as JOTA chases a repeat of its landmark victory in last year’s race. “Alex [Lynn] was second on the grid [last year], so the car is good around here,” he said. “The car likes this circuit and Le Mans, these fast, flowing corners where the car is loaded for a long time.”

***Cadillac, Alpine and BMW have all scheduled a day of testing at Paul Ricard next Tuesday, the day before Michelin’s planned tire development test at the French venue.

***Goodyear has unveiled a special tire design for the LMGT3 class this weekend, featuring the iconic blimp, as the firm celebrates its 100-year anniversary. The blimp itself is also due to visit Spa over the course of the weekend.

***Support action this weekend is provided by the Carrera Cup Germany and Benelux series. One notable guest participant in the latter is Nissan SUPER GT regular and former WEC driver Bertrand Baguette, who was born in nearby Verviers.

***Final practice for the 6H Spa is slated for 11 a.m. local time on Friday (5 a.m. EST), with qualifying set to begin at 2:40 p.m. (8:40 a.m. EST).

Davey Euwema contributed to this report