Lapierre Leads Red Flag-Shortened FP2
The #37 Cool Racing Oreca was the fastest car in the second and final free practice session of the season ahead of qualifying for the 4 Hours of Portimão. The session was interrupted by a red flag to repair a dislodged drain cover, the stoppage coming at the same time that Job van Uitert went off into the gravel at T5 after suffering a brake disc explosion in the #32 United Autosports Oreca.
The session was not extended to accommodate the c.30 minute stoppage with Nico Lapierre’s best lap time of 1:29.189 in the #37 Oreca topping the session, some 0.120 seconds ahead of Will Stevens in the #31 Panis Racing Oreca, with Phil Hanson in the #22 United Autosports Oreca third fastest with a 1:29.386 lap time. The overall time was 0.5 seconds slower than the fastest lap set in FP1 yesterday.
David Droux was the quickest driver in the LMP3 class, the Swiss driver posting a 1.36.672 lap in the #8 Realteam Racing Ligier he shares this weekend with late replacement Julien Gerbi, 0.197 seconds ahead of the #11 Eurointernational Ligier of Niko Kari. The championship leading #2 United Autosports Ligier didn’t take part in the session, the team electing to conserve the tyres for qualifying and the race.
The #88 AF Corse Ferrari was the fastest car in the expanded LMGTE category with Alessio Rovera finishing the session with a 1:38.728, 0.681 seconds ahead of championship leader David Perel in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. The #77 Proton Competition Porsche was 5th, with Alessio Picariello setting the cars best time of 1:39.771.
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