The final tune-up for Saturday’s race will be held Tuesday morning.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium—Former LMP champion Filipe Albuquerque led the opening of the two-day prologue test at this historic track on Monday. Still, despite his United Autosports entry setting the fastest overall time of 2:04:968, the test was cut short in the morning due to three red flag periods.
Photo courtesy Autosport
Albuquerque was one of the victims, getting beached into the sausage curve. Albuquerque was one of the lucky ones, though. American Ben Keating smashed his TF Sport LMG am car into the barriers at Eau Rouge/Raidillon and was taken to the nearby hospital (no report of serious injury). The last red flag period happened with another TF Sport entry–this time by Satoshi Hoshino–who drove his D’station car into the same place where Keating had his accident.
Too much damage in the same area caused the circuit marshals to end the session. But with that session cut short, 30 minutes was added to the afternoon period, and categories competed against each other for the fastest time. The LMP2 cars were placed in the top seven–second through seventh. As for the new hypercar class, Toyotas Brendon Hartley was the fastest in the morning, although the Kiwi finished his best in eighth overall.
The Japanese team’s main challenger from France, the Alpine A480, took second in its class behind Hartley. But the French team recovered in the afternoon, recording a 2:05:230 best time in their division. The second Toyota did not even set a lap time, only completing two insulation laps in the morning, and did not do much all day because of hydraulic and electrical issues.
As for the GTE pros, Porsche driver Kevin Estre set the best time in his division, followed by its Ferrari rival with James Calado at the controls. Next was the American Corvette entry of Antonio Garcia, who took third best in this division ahead of the second Porsche driven by Richard Lietz.
One big surprise was the new Cetilar driver, Antonio Fucco, who set a faster time than the last remaining GTE pro cars, which included the second AF Corse Ferrari driven by Miguel Molina, who was a second and a half off the pace.
Sean Gelael was another victim at the accident-prone Raidillon area, striking JOTA barriers in the afternoon, which damaged his back end. Anders Buchardt spun his Porsche 911 RSR at Bruxelles right into the barriers on the same lap.
The final day of the prologue will commence on Tuesday at 9:05 a.m. local time. That will give the drivers their last opportunity to adjust before this Saturday’s six-hour race.
