Alpine Heads BMW in FP2 at Spa

Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI

Alpine set the pace in Free Practice 2 ahead of this weekend’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps FIA World Endurance Championship round as its pair of A424s locked out the top spots with Jules Gounon leading the way.

The 2:01.816 that Gounon set aboard the No. 36 machine in the opening portion of the session was a second faster than Antonio Fuoco’s pacesetting time in FP1, which had began with the track slightly damp.

Gounon was 0.274 seconds quicker than stablemate Charles Milesi in the sister No. 36 Alpine in FP2, while Sheldon van der Linde was third fastest in the No. 20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 with a 2:02.179 upon his return to WEC action after missing the Imola opener due to clashing IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commitments.

Heart of Racing Team continued its strong showing from FP1, when Alex Riberas was second, with Marco Sorensen aboard the No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie fourth fastest with a 2:02.294.

Rounding out the top five were the second of the BMWs — thanks to Dries Vanthoor — and Fuoco, the No. 50 Ferrari 499P being the best of the trio of cars from the Italian manufacturer with a 2:02.381.

The pick of the Peugeot 9X8s was seventh fastest, the No. 94 in the hands of Malthe Jakobsen, while the second Valkyrie was eighth with Harry Tincknell at the wheel.

Ninth was the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica while it was another low-key session for Imola winner Toyota as it completed the top-10 thanks to a 2:02.527 from Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid.

The best of the Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.Rs was in 12th, 1.3 seconds adrift of Gounon’s outright pace, while the fastest Genesis GMR-001 was the No. 19 machine of Mattieu Jaminet on 2:03.658.

Aston’s good day continued into the LMGT3 ranks where the No. 23 Heart of Racing Vantage GT3 Evo topped the times thanks to a 2:17.769 from Eduardo Barrichello that was two tenths faster than the No. 34 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Peter Dempsey, the car that had headed FP1 in the hands of Charlie Eastwood.

Third fastest was the No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Lin Hodenius, who managed a 2:18.210 to outpace Simon Mann in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo by just one hundredth of a second.

Two red flags interrupted proceedings, the first a short delay at the mid-point of the session while debris was cleared from Les Combes, while there was a slightly longer halt with 20 minutes to go after Tom van Rompuy lost a wheel in the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3.

The final one-hour practice session is due to begin at 10:10 a.m. CEST on Saturday (4:10 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Free Practice 2

Source: Sports Car 365