Buemi fastest for Toyota on wet Shanghai Friday

#7 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi before a huge Friday crowd
#7 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi before a huge Friday crowd

As expected, Toyota, which enjoys a huge advantage over its rivals as allowed by the FIA (so they do not leave the series) came out on top in two wet sessions of free practice for this weekend's Shanghai round of the World Endurance Championship.

Sebastien Buemi's 1m54.768s set on intermediate tires in the #7 Toyota in the first of the two 90-minute sessions stood as the fastest time of the day.

Teammates Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso were a second behind in the sister #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID.

The other cars have zero chance of winning and were so far behind they may as well have stayed home.

LMGTE Pro saw reigning champion James Calado set the pace for AF Corse as he takes the No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO to a 2m14.315s best

BMW Team MTEK continue to show strong wet weather pace with Antonio Felix da Costa lapping in 2m14.964 with BMW M8 GTE

In LMGTE Am it was Giancarlo Fisichella who emerged top for Spirit of Race as the Italian takes his Ferrari 488 GTE to a class-topping best of 2m16.835s.

Final Free Practice session is scheduled for 09.50 local time on Saturday morning.

Practice 1 Times

POS CLASS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP
1 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso Toyota 1m54.768s
2 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota 1m56.354s 1.586s
3 LMP1 S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, M.Isaakyan BR Engineering/AER 1m58.880s 4.112s
4 LMP1 O.Webb, T.Dillmann, J.Rossiter ENSO CLM/NISMO 1m58.919s 4.151s
5 LMP1 M.Beche, T.Laurent, G.Menezes Rebellion/Gibson 1m59.132s 4.364s
6 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, B.Senna Rebellion/Gibson 1m59.239s 4.471s
7 LMP1 M.Aleshin, V.Petrov, J.Button BR Engineering/AER 1m59.675s 4.907s
8 LMP2 J.Jaafar, W.Tan, N.Jeffri ORECA/Gibson 2m02.923s 8.155s
9 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries Dallara/Gibson 2m03.551s 8.783s
10 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, L.Duval ORECA/Gibson 2m04.282s 9.514s
11 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, S.Richelmi ORECA/Gibson 2m04.556s 9.788s
12 LMP2 E.Creed, R.Ricci, E.Guibbert Ligier/Gibson 2m04.623s 9.855s
13 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson ORECA/Gibson 2m04.803s 10.035s
14 LMP2 N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet Alpine/Gibson 2m06.714s 11.946s
15 LMP1 J.Allen, B.Hanley, R.van der Zande BR Engineering/Gibson 2m06.847s 12.079s
16 GTE Pro M.Tomczyk, N.Catsburg BMW 2m09.830s 15.062s
17 GTE Am S.Yoluc, J.Adam, C.Eastwood Aston Martin 2m11.764s 16.996s
18 GTE Pro R.Lietz, G.Bruni Porsche 2m12.202s 17.434s
19 GTE Pro A.Lynn, M.Martin Aston Martin 2m12.568s 17.800s
20 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche 2m12.840s 18.072s
21 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla Ford 2m12.980s 18.212s
22 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, N.Thiim Aston Martin 2m13.012s 18.244s
23 GTE Pro O.Gavin, T.Milner Chevrolet 2m13.182s 18.414s
24 GTE Pro A.P.Guidi, J.Calado Ferrari 2m13.414s 18.646s
25 GTE Am C.Ried, J.Andlauer, M.Campbell Porsche 2m13.482s 18.714s
26 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Ferrari 2m13.638s 18.870s
27 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird Ferrari 2m13.745s 18.977s
28 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell Ford 2m14.217s 19.449s
29 GTE Pro T.Blomqvist, A.F.da Costa BMW 2m14.391s 19.623s
30 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin 2m14.618s 19.850s
31 GTE Am K.Al Qubaisi, R.Pera, M.Cairoli Porsche 2m15.724s 20.956s
32 GTE Am J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti Porsche 2m15.803s 21.035s
33 GTE Am M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever Ferrari 2m15.856s 21.088s
34 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining Porsche 2m15.914s 21.146s
35 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella Ferrari 2m16.129s 21.361s

Practice 2 Times

POS CLASS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP
1 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota 2m02.259s
2 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso Toyota 2m02.504s 0.245s
3 LMP1 M.Beche, T.Laurent, G.Menezes Rebellion/Gibson 2m02.673s 0.414s
4 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, B.Senna Rebellion/Gibson 2m02.935s 0.676s
5 LMP1 M.Aleshin, V.Petrov, J.Button BR Engineering/AER 2m03.648s 1.389s
6 LMP1 S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, M.Isaakyan BR Engineering/AER 2m04.588s 2.329s
7 LMP1 J.Allen, B.Hanley, R.van der Zande BR Engineering/Gibson 2m04.696s 2.437s
8 LMP1 O.Webb, T.Dillmann, J.Rossiter ENSO CLM/NISMO 2m06.744s 4.485s
9 LMP2 J.Jaafar, W.Tan, N.Jeffri ORECA/Gibson 2m10.869s 8.610s
10 LMP2 N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet Alpine/Gibson 2m10.896s 8.637s
11 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, L.Duval ORECA/Gibson 2m11.746s 9.487s
12 LMP2 E.Creed, R.Ricci, E.Guibbert Ligier/Gibson 2m12.112s 9.853s
13 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries Dallara/Gibson 2m12.156s 9.897s
14 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, S.Richelmi ORECA/Gibson 2m12.162s 9.903s
15 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson ORECA/Gibson 2m12.499s 10.240s
16 GTE Pro A.P.Guidi, J.Calado Ferrari 2m14.315s 12.056s
17 GTE Pro T.Blomqvist, A.F.da Costa BMW 2m14.964s 12.705s
18 GTE Pro A.Lynn, M.Martin Aston Martin 2m14.983s 12.724s
19 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, N.Thiim Aston Martin 2m15.454s 13.195s
20 GTE Pro O.Gavin, T.Milner Chevrolet 2m16.222s 13.963s
21 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche 2m16.250s 13.991s
22 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla Ford 2m16.568s 14.309s
23 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella Ferrari 2m16.835s 14.576s
24 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Ferrari 2m16.878s 14.619s
25 GTE Pro M.Tomczyk, N.Catsburg BMW 2m17.025s 14.766s
26 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird Ferrari 2m17.162s 14.903s
27 GTE Pro R.Lietz, G.Bruni Porsche 2m17.578s 15.319s
28 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining Porsche 2m17.799s 15.540s
29 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell Ford 2m17.863s 15.604s
30 GTE Am S.Yoluc, J.Adam, C.Eastwood Aston Martin 2m17.904s 15.645s
31 GTE Am M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever Ferrari 2m18.558s 16.299s
32 GTE Am K.Al Qubaisi, R.Pera, M.Cairoli Porsche 2m18.610s 16.351s
33 GTE Am J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti Porsche 2m20.235s 17.976s
34 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin 2m21.333s 19.074s
35 GTE Am C.Ried, J.Andlauer, M.Campbell Porsche