FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Silverstone - Free Practice 2

Audi One-Two, Strakka Third

The day’s second 90 minute session kicked off at four o’clock with little change in overall conditions. The threat of rain that had arisen earlier in the day had largely receded, but so too had the sunshine, so it was a dull and overcast Silverstone by the time the first cars appeared on track.

Having seen the Toyota running second to the #1 Audi for most of the morning period, Alexander Wurz was swift to attempt a reversal of fortunes, at least for the opening minutes. His early pace gave the #7 Toyota a tenth over Fassler, and with drizzle being reported ten minutes in, his time held the edge, if only for a short while. It was significantly slower than the best of the morning (1:46.648, as compared with 1:45.777) but it was nearly quarter of an hour before Kristensen posted something better – 1:46.112.

Best of the rest at that time was Nicolas Prost in the #12 Rebellion Lola, with Chandhok narrowly easing the JRM HPD ahead of Jonny Kane in Strakka’s #21. The Ulsterman responded with a 1:48.862 to move ahead of Prost, and then Belicchi (#13) clocked a 1:48.082 to become quickest of the petrol-powered cars.

Once again, we witnessed a succession of on-screen warnings for drivers not observing track limits – mostly among the GT fraternity, although Tom Kristensen also earned a slapped wrist. The first to receive the black and white flag was James Walker in the #66 JMW Ferrari, with his team manager summoned to Race Control for a ticking off. Others would follow . . .

In LMP2 Sam Hancock showed the early pace in the Jota Zytek, two-tenths shy of Oak’s best from the morning. That was before Kraihamer posted a 1:51.201 in the Nissan-powered #35 Oak Morgan to be the first to make a genuine improvement over those first-session times. Pierre Kaffer was also showing a clean pair of heels, easing the Pecom Racing Oreca into second quickest, while Frank Mailleux was also getting up to speed for Signatech’s #23 Oreca – four seconds quicker than the car had managed earlier.

Whatever the stewards issues might have been over Walker’s interpretation of the racing line, he was setting good times in the JMW Ferrari and had found more than a second since the morning, crossing the line with a best of 2:02.472 to give the #66 second place in the running for GTE-Pro, three-tenths adrift of Lietz in the #77 Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche.

Having begun the afternoon with promise, Wurz’s Toyota was into the pitlane and lying third by the half-hour, with both Kristensen and then Fassler moving quicker. The two Audis each managed to duck under the forty-six second marker and then exchanging top honours on a regular basis as the session developed.

Another entry that slipped down the order as the hour lengthened was the Jota Zytek; Hancock’s opening flyer only being good enough for sixth in P2 by the time Olivier Pla (#24 Oak, this weekend also with Nissan power) and Tor Graves (#25 ADR-Delta) had got into their stride.

The situation on screen two was less neatly defined, with the #61 AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari not only quickest in the class, but getting the better of the tail-enders in GTE-Pro and almost matching the best from the #97 Aston Martin – the Vantage significantly off it’s morning pace.

The only car with serious issues was the #32 Lotus Lola, off the track and staying there after just seven laps; Kevin Weeda in the cockpit. The rest of the field, all 34, stayed out on track for almost the entire session. There were also precious few incidents, save the occasional spin, and contact between the Larbre Corvette #50 and an unidentified prototype, followed moments later by another bump for cars #97 (Aston) and #42 (Greaves) with forty minutes to go.

The middle half hour of the session proved to be decidedly tame. The only excitement came when Nic Minassian stepped aboard the #42 Zytek – making his debut with Jota and evidently adjusting readily to his new assignment. His first true flyer was a 1:50.759, not only two seconds faster than the car had previously managed, but good enough for quickest in P2 by the best part of half a second. Around the same time the #48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca was starting to gather momentum, with Brendon Hartley clocking 1:51.418 and moving fourth in P2. The team has insisted, as always, that their times in practice are unimportant, and they’re “concentrating on race set-up”.

Having sat third in GTE-pro for most of the opening hour, Gianmaria Bruni eased the #51 AF Corse Ferrari into top slot with a 2:02.121 – six-tenths quicker than previously, and narrowly ahead of the #77. (The Felbermayr Porsche was another of those to experience the wrath of Race Control by straying across the line and earning a black and white flag.) Also showing well in the latter stages was the #99 GTE-Am Aston Martin, moving to second in class ahead of the #88 Felbermayr Proton Porsche.

The final ten minutes fizzled out like a damp squib, and aside from a warning for the #88 for, apparently, refuelling in the garage, and another “under investigation” for the #70 Larbre Corvette for ‘improving under yellows’, there were no significant improvements – with one notable exception. An impressive run from Danny Watts, concluded with a 1:46.964 to move the Strakka HPD third fastest, ahead of the #7 Toyota and just 1.34 seconds off the 1:45.645 set by Kristensen in the #2 Audi R18. That left Audi claiming first and second quickest overall and completing almost twice as many laps as the Toyota – the latter reportedly struggling with hybrid issues.