Jose Maria Lopez was the driver to beat again at the chequered flag of the second FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza practice session, but Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus and Alpine Elf Matmut were in the fight for fastest lap.
The improvement for Lopez between first practice and second was astounding; jumping from a 1:38.401 to a 1:36.864, finding more than a second and a half of pace overnight. He seemed to be in a class of his own, even over the sister #8 car which could finish no higher than fourth behind the Alpine and #708 Glickenhaus at the chequered flag. But even the second fastest car could get no closer than eight tenths out from the leading Toyota.
It was a bit of a nervous session for the Alpine team who didn’t hit the track until 20 minutes of running had passed. At the time of publishing, it is not know what caused the delay, but quickly they were setting the second fastest lap time of the session, so all seems well with the sole LMP1 car.
It was an incredible morning for the #708 crew, only a tenth off the lap time of Nicolas Lapierre in the Alpine and a tenth up on the #8 Toyota. The second Glickenhaus finished fifth, ahead of the LMP2 cars and just three tenths down on Brendon Hartley.
Racing Team Nederland have returned to the top at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza with Nyck De Vries taking the fastest LMP2 time of the session. His 1:38.620 out paced second-placed Filipe Alberquerque by 0.075s. The top five in class was finished by #38 JOTA, #21 DragonSpeed USA and #31 Team WRT, covered by just over half a second at the chequered flag. Although Racing Team Nederland are holding strong at the top of the class, it is anyone’s game as to who will fill out the rest of the top three come qualifying.
Despite a BoP shift ahead of the session, Porsche took the advantage from Ferrari in the second practice session, with Kevin Estre leading the way with a six tenth advantage. His 1:45.590 was set at the start of the 90 minutes and none of the other GTE cars could get close. Alessandro Pier Guidi had to settle for second behind their main championships rivals.
In the duel between the #91 Porsche and #52 Ferrari, it was Daniel Serra who came out on top to give Ferrari a two-three, staying in the fight with the sister car to put the pressure on Porsche come qualifying later today.
Ferrari had the advantage in Am, however, as Giancarlo Fisichella claimed the fastest lap that was stolen from him in FP1. His 1:46.737 gave the works AF Corse Am car a tenth advantage over the sister #83 entry, whilst the Iron Lynx Iron Danes made it a Ferrari top three in the GTE Am standings.
One final 60 minute practice session comes ahead of the two ten-minute qualifying sessions. The 6 Hours of Monza is the second round to hold three sessions on one day, giving teams a lot of work and making practice sessions much more risky (repairs to cars ahead of qualifying are a lot tighter). Free practice three gets underway 13:00 GMT.
