Prologue – EL2: The time for JOTA, the number of laps for Toyota

• This time, everyone was out. After a first optional test session with only nine cars on track for three hours, the second driving session of the day, compulsory, was full.
• Like a little earlier today, it's a Porsche 963 from Hertz Team JOTA which was the fastest on a lap with a reference mark of 1:40.541 established by Callum Ilott on the n°12.
• Antonio Fuoco placed the Ferrari 499P n°50 in second position in 1:40.673, just ahead of the other Hertz Team JOTA, the n°38, whose best time was achieved by a certain Jenson Button in 1:40.950.
• If they did not particularly shine in terms of lap times, both Toyota filed down the asphalt during these five hours of driving. 13th with a best lap of 1:42.452, the No. 8 covered 138 loops of the Losail circuit. 16th with a time of 1:42.736, the No. 7 covered 127 laps. No other team accumulated so many kilometers during this session.
• As for the newcomers, the BMW M Hybrid V8s were placed in 8th and 11th places, at the level of the official Porsches. They respectively covered 113 laps for the No. 15 and 112 for the No. 20.
• The Lamborghini SC63 set the 15th fastest time in 1:42.627 for 90 laps completed. Small problems marred the Italian manufacturer's session.
• At Alpine, the laps in 1:43.066 (No. 36) and 1:43.127 (No. 35) place them in the last positions in the Hypercar category (17th and 18th). The two French prototypes, however, were diligent on the track with 97 laps for the trio Stone, Schumacher, Vaxiviere and 102 for Chatin, Habsburg, Milesi.
• Peugeot placed a car in the top 10 with 7th place for the #93 of Nico Müller, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne in 1:41.587. No. 94 of Loïc duval, Paul di Resta and Stoffel Vandoorne ranked 12th in 1:42.397. The two 9x8s, which are still evolving in their 2023 configuration, have both passed the 100 lap mark.
• Difficult session for Isotta Fraschini. The little thumb finished in last position in the Hypercar category with a best lap of 1:44.269 and only 85 laps covered. Which is the worst overall in this class.
• As for the LMGT3s, the two Porsche 911 GT3 R impressed with the number of kilometers covered. 117 laps were swallowed by the n°91 of Manthey EMA and 114 by the n°92 of Manthey Pure Rxcing. Only two other cars in this category exceeded 100 laps during this session: theAston Martin Vantage GT3 n°27 of Heart of Racing Team (104) and the Ferrari 296 GT3 n°55 of Vista AF Corse (100).
• The best LMGT3 time was set by the McLaren United Autosports' #720 3S LMGT59 Evo (James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa, Grégoire Saucy) in 1:54.480.
• The third session of this Prologue of WEC 2024 will begin at 8:00 a.m. this Tuesday morning. It will be followed in live text on AUTOhebdo.fr from 7:45 a.m.

The ranking of the second session of the WEC 2024 Prologue: