The Porsche Team’s two 919 Hybrid cars set the fastest lap times on the first day of free practice for the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship – WEC – in Silverstone (GB). The times were faster than those from 2015 – the pole was 1:39.721. The fastest time today was set by Brenton Hartley 1:39.655 minutes, part of the trio of reigning WEC world champions – Timo Bernhard (DE), Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU). The weather in Silverstone was dismal British – cold with mixed rainy conditions.
For 2016 the WEC regulations stipulate 8% less fuel consumption, and a reduced fuel flow for the class one Le Mans prototypes – LMP1- the most sophisticated and exciting racecars in the world.
Porsche says that for the first time the team is going to the 5.9 kilometer Formula One track (does anyone care about that moribund series?) with a high downforce aerodynamic package for the faster corners. In the team’s debut season during 2014, as well as in 2015, the focus at this time of the year had been on preparing for the Le Mans 24 Hours, where less downforce is required.
The sister car of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) came second in both sessions. In this car it was Jani who put in the fastest lap with a time of 1:41.344 minutes. A “misunderstanding” with a slower GT car sent Lieb for an agonizing baker’s dozen heartbeats into the gravel bed.
Toyota Gazoo Racing put the all-new TS050 HYBRID car through its paces today in the first two practice sessions. The #5 car of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima set the sixth fastest lap of the day. Kamui Kobayashi is making his Toyota debut in WEC this weekend and, alongside his #6 colleagues Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway, was fourth quickest.
Audi Team Drivers of Lucas Di Grassi, Loïc Duval, Oliver Jarvis managed the third fasted lap- 1:41.454 – during open practice session 2.
The 20-minute Silverstone qualifying session – the one that counts – on Saturday begins at 12:20 pm local time (11:20 CEST). The six-hour race starts on Sunday at 12:00 pm local time (11:00 CEST). Eurosport will broadcast the final two hours and the podium ceremony live.
Mark Webber: “We were in great shape in Silverstone, and we had the pace for victory.[Well, but Audi was disqualified after winning – editor] Spa will require a very different set-up for the car [Because of the Belgian circuit’s long full-throttle legs, low downforce is key. The aerodynamic set-up will be a cross between Silverstone’s high downforce and Le Mans with minimum drag. Difficult choices – editor] and we have to see how this goes compared to the opposition [ Audi and Toyota]. Also, again, it will be a real mission to get the balance right in handling the traffic. Spa is definitely one of my favorite circuits, as it has so much character. The undulations around the track give you a great sensation of speed through some of the sections. It’s a long lap [7.004 kilometers] and you can face very challenging conditions in different sections. The weather can be tricky in the Ardennes mountains, which can develop its own micro-climate – you could leave a dry pit lane and have some showers at different parts of the track.”
Porsche on Spa – Mark Webber (39, Australia): “We were in great shape in Silverstone, and we had the pace for victory. [Well, but Audi was disqualified after winning – editor] Spa will require a very different set-up for the car [Because of the Belgian circuit’s long full throttle legs, low downforce is key. The aerodynamic set-up will be a cross between the Silverstone – high downforce – Le Mans with minimum drag. Difficult choices – editor] and we have to see how this goes compared to the opposition. Also, again, it will be a real mission to get the balance right in handling the traffic. Spa is definitely one of my favorite circuits, as it has so much character. The undulations around the track give you a great sensation of speed through some of the sections. It’s a long lap [7.004 kilometers] and you can face very challenging conditions in different sections. The weather can be tricky in the Ardennes mountains, which can develop its own micro-climate – you could leave a dry pit lane and have some showers at different parts of the track.”
On a drying track, with very low ambient and track temperatures, the front row on the grid went to Audi. Audi car number “7” of Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer (CH/D/F) set the fastest time, trailed by Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Oliver Jarvis (BR/F/GB) in number “8” with a gap of just one tenth of a second. For Audi, it has been the twelfth occasion of setting the fastest time in the FIA WEC which has been held since 2012.
Snow in the morning and a stopped third free practice, wet track and a track temperature of six degrees centigrade around noon: the conditions for the first qualifying session in the 2016 season were dreadful.
The two Porsche 919 Hybrids will start third and fourth. The reigning World Champions, Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU), qualified third ahead of their teammates Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE). In the WEC the average of the respective best laps of two drivers counts for the grid position. In Silverstone Hartley/Webber (car number 1 / 1:54.150 minutes) and Dumas/Jani (car number 2 / 1:54.266 minutes) were the qualifying drivers.
1 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18) 1m 53.204s
2 Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (Audi R18) 1m 53.308s
3 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 1m 54.150s
4 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 1m 54.266s
5 Conway/Kobayashi/Sarrazin (Toyota) 1m 58.200s
6 Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima (Toyota) 2m 00.109s
7 Rossiter/Trummer/Webb (CLM-AER) 2m 08.332s
8 Berthon/Rast/Rusinov (Oreca-Nissan) 2m 08.479s
9 Cumming/Dalziel/Derani (Ligier-Nissan) 2m 09.632s
10 Albuquerque/Gonzalez/Senna (Ligier-Nissan) 2m 10.295s