After dominating the sessions yesterday, Toyota Gazoo Racing was not able to hold onto the top spot, as Rebellion Racing set the fastest time in the final practice session before qualifying. The two Rebellion entries finished in the top three, leaving Toyota with just one car splitting the Swiss pair.
DragonSpeed were fastest once again in LMP2, whilst Porsche is still the favourite to take the first Am win of the year. Ford took the fastest lap once again in LM GTE Pro, but it was a fight between BMW Team MTEK and them this session.
Neel Jani set the fastest lap of the session just after the green flag, leading the sixty-minute session with a fastest time of 1:57.120. This is time was slower than the fastest laptime set by Toyota yesterday, but the Japanese manufacturer could do nothing to challenge it. Mike Conway got closest, finishing eight tenths off the pace set by Jani and the Rebellions.
The sister #8 Toyota finished fifth overall, pushed down the timesheets in the last five minutes by the #17 SMP Racing. Fernando Alonso was in the car for the last ten minutes of the session, unable to improve on team mate Kazuki Nakajima‘s fastest time.
Pastor Maldonado led the way once again in LMP2, making it three consecutive fastest sessions for DragonSpeed. The usual suspects rounded off the top three, with G-Drive Racing leading the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car to take second place. The #37 had been class third at the halfway mark of the session, but an undisclosed issues saw it losing power at various points of the session. It finished sixth at the end of the session.
Halfway through the session, it was a BMW leading the Pro class, looking a lot stronger than they did yesterday. After recent comments by Jens Marquardt about BoP calculations, it was good to see that the BMWs do not look to have a disadvantage in this area, and the automated system is working as it should be to bring a fair battle field to the grid.
Andy Priaulx put Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK back on top of the class with a time of 2:13.693 to lead the #82 BMW and sister #66 Ford to the end of the session. The two Porsche GT Team cars followed on the timing sheet, meaning there may be a three-way fight for class pole this afternoon.
Porsche were strong once again in LMGTE Am, locking out the top two positions with Dempsey-Proton Racing. At the start of the session, the one to watch was TF Sport #90 Aston Martin, which shot to the top of the class timing screens in the hands of Salih Yoluc. They held onto third by the end of the session, which could be a promising sign for the Aston Martin runners.
It was another no-show from Manor CEFC TRSM Racing as they, once again, only came out at the start of the session to set an installation lap. Rumours and concern still surround the team as the race gets closer, but no comments about their situation have surfaced at the moment.
Attention has also been drawn to the fact that Leo Roussel is not on the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps entry list and has not been seen at the track this weekend. It is thought that he brought some funds to Manor for his seat, so could be a contributing factor to the financial issues surrounding the team.
