The two factory Ferrari 499Ps set the pace in the first practice session of the FIA WEC weekend in Spa-Francorchamps, with the No. 50 ending up over a second clear of the rest of the field following a flying lap from Antonio Fuoco.
There should be a lot more to come from the Hypercars in pace terms though. Fuoco’s time, a 2m05.690s, is way off off last year’s pole time of 2m00.812s from Toyota. It was, however, 1.1s faster than Antonio Giovanazzi in the No. 51 sister car and 1.3s up on the Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63, which set a highly encouraging 2m06.998s to go third overall and quickest of the LMDh cars in the field.
The top five were completed by Alpine’s No. 36 and the No. 83 AF Corse 499P, which was the fastest car entered in the Hypercar World Cup for privately funded entries.
Proton’s No. 99 963 was the fastest Porsche in sixth ahead of the championship-leading #6 factory Porsche from Penske that slotted in seventh.
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Of the 19 Hypercars, at this early stage of the weekend, the top 11 came within two seconds of the No. 50’s time in the Ferrari and every car the Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C lapped within three seconds. The entire field completely plenty of laps, all but three crossing the timing beam 30 or more times.
In LMGT3, TF Sport topped the times with its No. 82 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R after Daniel Juncadella reeled off a 2m20.885s. The field looks well balanced at this stage, with six of the nine manufacturers setting times in the top six.
The No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari ended the 90-minute session second with a 2m21.220s from Davide Rigon, while the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin rounded out the top three.
It was a more quiet start to the week for the championship-leading Pure Rxcing Porsche, which would complete 34 laps but end up seventh in the times, almost three seconds off the leading Corvette.
Free Practice 2 is set to get underway at 5:30pm local time.