A Ginetta topped the time sheets for the first time in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with Team LNT ending Friday quickest overall in Free Practice for the 4 hours of Shanghai.
Charlie Robertson took the No. 6 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 AER to a 1:48.127 lap time in FP2, improving on Gustavo Menezes’ pace-setting time from opening practice by six-tenths.
Robertson, who is sharing the British-built LMP1 non-hybrid with Guy Smith and Mike Simpson, was 0.061 seconds quicker than the No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Kazuki Nakajima, who along with the sister No. 7 Toyota, showed considerable improvement compared to FP1.
Both of the Toyota’s times were set in the opening minutes of the 90-minute session.
Bruno Senna managed to sandwich the Toyotas, putting his No. 1 Rebellion R13 Gibson third on the time charts with a 1:48.288 lap time, with the No. 5 Ginetta clearing the quickest LMP2 car to go fifth overall.
Times were significantly quicker in three of the four classes in FP2, with only the GTE-Am pace-setting time set by Matteo Cairoli from the morning holding up as quickest of the day.
The No. 42 Cool Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Nico Lapierre led the way again in LMP2, with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE rebounding from a fuel leak to go quickest in GTE-Pro.
The pair of Aston Martin Vantage GTEs were second and third in class, meanwhile.
Free Practice 3 gets underway at 9:50 a.m. local time on Saturday, followed by qualifying in the afternoon.
RESULTS: Free Practice 2