WEC: Ferrari And Toyota Share Monza’s Free Practice Top Spots

24 Hours of Le Mans-winning #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P set the pace in the first track action of this year’s 6 Hours of Monza, with the #7 Toyota Gazoo GR010 responding to top in the second session of the first day of the fifth round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Free Practice 1

• #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P set the pace in first track action at Monza with a best time of 137.533s
• 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Alessandro Pier Guidi was behind the wheel, setting the best time of the session to delight Tifosi on home soil
• Hertz Team JOTA was an impressive early pacesetter at Monza as Yifei Ye lapped the circuit in 1m37.536s to head the field for the majority of the 90-minute session. But Pier Guidi’s late time just beats the striking golden Porsche by 0.003s
• #5 Porsche Penske 963 recovered from an early stoppage just after the first chicane as Michael Christensen re-started the car and managed lay down a 1m37.824s best lap to place third overall.
• #41 WRT Oreca-Gibson of Louis Deletraz, Rui Andrade and Robert Kubica claimed the top spot in LMP2 after Kubica managed a 1m40.356 lap.
• WRT placed 1-2 as the #31 Oreca-Gibson was just 0.2s adrift of its sister car in the hands of Ferdinand Habsburg.
• Le Mans class winner Inter Europol Competition took third position with Albert Costa continuing strong momentum for the Polish outfit.
• #54 AF Corse Ferrari led the way in the LMGTE Am class to give Ferrari a double cheer as Davide Rigon set the best lap of 1m47.538s
• #60 Iron Lynx entry driven by Matteo Cressoni was second just 0.1s off Rigon’s best effort.

Free Practice 2

• A 1m36.363s lap by Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota Gazoo GR010 Hybrid Hypercar saw Toyota head Ferrari in Free Practice 2 at Monza.
• Kobayashi’s time was just 0.170s ahead of the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P as Antonio Fuoco claimed the second-best time.
• #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar placed third as Brendon Hartley completes the best lap and ensures that 0.323s covers the leading trio
• Robert Kubica again took the best time in the #41 Team WRT Oreca-Gibson by setting a 1m39.955s best.
• A 1m40.136s by Alberto Costa in the Inter Europol Competition car saw the Le Mans winning car going second, improving by one place from the first session of the event.
• Team WRT again looked strong across its squad as Ferdinand Habsburg managed the best time in the car he shares with Robin Frijns and Sean Gelael.
• Alessio Picariello topped the times in LMGTE Am class in #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo with a peak of 1m46.973s.
• The Belgian/Italian driver headed the GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 with Riccardo Pera again setting the time for the British team that took its best-ever result of third at Le Mans last month.

Practice 2 Results