6 hours from Silverstone – Toyota dominates FP1

It was under a gray sky but on a dry track that the first free practice session for the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the opening round of the WEC 2017.

It is Sébastien Buemi, at the wheel of the Toyota TS050 Hybrid n°8 which it shares with Kazuki Nakajima et Anthony Davidson, qui a signé le meilleur chrono en 1’40 »104. Pour rappel, l’an passé, la marque de référence du week-end était de 1’39 »655. Le Suisse a devancé de 0 »781 la Porsche 919 Hybrid n°2 au volant de laquelle se relaient Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber et Brendon Hartley. The #7 Toyota and #1 Porsche follow at 0”856 and 1”231 respectively.

The #07 Oreca 13 fielded by the Vaillante Rebellion team for Beche-Piquet Jr-Heinemeier Hansson stood out in LM P2 thanks to a lap completed in 1'45"913. The cars of TDS Racing and Jackie Chan DC Racing (#37) follow.

Unable to do better than 1’48”224, the Enso CLM P1/01 n°4, which meets the non-hybrid LM P1 regulations, only beat one LM P2.

In GTE, Aston Martin rose to the top of the timesheet, both in GTE Pro and in GTE Am, thanks to the #95 of Thiim-Sorensen-Stanaway (1'59"110) and the #98 of Dalla Lana- Lamy-Lauda (1'59"342). The latter even signed the second best absolute time in GTE, ahead of seven of the eight GTE Pro entered.

The No. 8 V95 Vantage beat the two Ford GTs and the two Porsche 911 RSRs, both Ferrari 488 GTE bringing up the rear, more than a second from the reference mark.

The second free practice session is scheduled for 17:45 a.m. French time.