Robin Freens posted 2m05.475s at the start of the session aboard # 31 WRT ORECA-Gibson 07, which became the fastest time in the first 90-minute workout period on Friday afternoon.
It was the first time this season that the P2 car was ahead of the Hypercar class contenders, although the secondary prototypes were the fastest in three of the four sessions at the official pre-season prologue at Sebring ahead of the championship opening in March.
As a result, Freins was ahead of Philippe Albuquerque by only six hundredths in the top of the two United Autosports ORECA, which finished second and third overall in Free Practice 1.
2m05.538s Albuquerque compared to 2m05.885s teammate Oliver Jarvis in the sister car.
Will Stevens made four P2 in the top four with a result of 2m05.967s in the fastest of the two ORECA claimed by the British team Jota.
Solo Glickenhaus was the fastest in the Hypercar category, finishing fifth overall in the hands of Ramon Dumas.
The Frenchman’s 2m06.233s in the Glickenhaus 007 Le Mans Hypercar with Pipo engines gave it an advantage of six tenths over the next best car in its class, the first with the Toyota LMH.
Mike Conway installed 2m06.876s in the Toyota GR010 Hybrid № 7, which was rebuilt into a new monocoque after the Jose Maria Lopez crash in Sebring, and finished eighth overall.
# 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kabayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
Photo: Paul Foster
Caught between the top two in the Hypercar category in sixth and seventh place were Penske ORECA LMP2, led by Felip Nasr, and second WRT with Norman Nato behind the wheel.
The second Toyota finished the session in 13th place at 2m08.802 from Sebastian Buemi, while the Signatech Alpine team, which won in Sebring, took the rear of the class.
Nicolas Lapierre installed 2m07.291s around the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps at the LMP1 Alpine-Gibson A480, which lost 20 kW or 26 hp. according to the Balance of Performance for the weekend.
The free exercise time on the Toyota GR010 has been significantly reduced compared to what it achieved during the design debut at the Spa last year.
Kamui Kabayashi was the fastest in the class of three workouts in 2021 with a result of 2 m02,518 s.
Toyota is working with a significantly different PB compared to the first 2021 championship: they are 30 kg heavier, have less power and can deploy hybrid power only at 190 km / h, not at last year’s 120 km / h.
Kevin Estre was the fastest in the # 91 Porsche 911 RSR with 2m14,583s, giving him a three-tenths advantage over teammate Gianmaria Bruni 2m14,906s
Ferrari finished third and fourth with its 488 GTE Evos AF Corse pair.
2m15.801s Alessandro Pierre Gidi has just overshadowed 2m15.813s from Miguel Malin in a sister car.
The solo Chevrolet Corvette C8.R took the rear in the GTE Pro thanks to 2m16.372s from track debutant Tommy Milner.
Matteo Cairoli went four-tenths faster than Milner with 2m15,982s to top the GTE Am on board his Porsche Project 1.
About a minute later the session was marked with a red flag as a result of a temporary IT failure in race management, but after the resumption the session lasted an hour and a half.
The red flag was also shown after the checkered flag fell when Rio Hirakawa stopped a Toyota № 8 on the Kemmel Straight track as a result of simulating a hybrid malfunction at the request of the FIA.
The 6 Hour Spa Practice, the second round of WEC 2022, resumes at 9:05 a.m. local time on Friday.
Further training precedes qualifying at 6:20 p.m. before Saturday’s race.
2022 WEC Spa 6 hours: FP1 results
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