Webber Quickest in Damp FP3 at Nürburgring

Photo: Vincent Wouters

Mark Webber went quickest in the third and final Free Practice session for the Six Hours of Nürburgring, ensuring that Porsche led all three sessions.

The session was delayed three times from its original start time of 9:15 a.m. to eventually get underway at 10 a.m. local time, due to foggy conditions that prevented the medical helicopter from flying.

Nevertheless, FP3 still ran the full 60 minutes, and saw the LMP1 leaders’ times improve by almost 13 seconds by the end, on a drying track.

Webber set his best time of a 1:41.002 with 20 minutes to go, and ended the constant flip-flop between Porsche, Audi and Toyota at the top of the time sheets.

Webber will share his No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid with Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard in Sunday’s race.

Anthony Davidson put his No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid into second, lapping 0.293 seconds slower than the Porsche, while the No. 8 Audi R18 completed the top-three.

A 1:50.260 from Rene Rast at the last minute took the LMP2 top spot in LMP2 for G-Drive Racing, while Tor Graves was second in the No. 44 Manor car, making it an Oreca 05 Nissan 1-2.

AF Corse swept GTE-Pro, with the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE of Gianmaria Bruni beating the sister No. 71 entry.

Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing was GTE-Am leader with David Heinemeier Hansson, despite a late spin for the Porsche 911 RSR.

Qualifying is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. local time.

RESULTS: Free Practice 3

Jake Kilshaw

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