United States Grand Prix · Debrief
Aston Martin and McLaren lead Barcelona WEC FP2
Harry Tincknell put Aston Martin fastest in Hypercar, while Finn Gehrsitz led LMGT3 for McLaren in second practice at Barcelona.
Aston Martin topped Hypercar and McLaren led LMGT3 in the second free practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as teams continued preparations for Sunday’s 6 Hours of Barcelona presented by Visit Qatar.
Harry Tincknell set the quickest Hypercar time in the #007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, recording a 1m31.712s lap. The mark was 0.17 seconds faster than Robert Kubica’s FP1 benchmark and narrowly ahead of the leading challengers.
Aston Martin edges a tightly packed Hypercar field
André Lotterer, ‘Pipo’ Derani and Mathys Jaubert placed the #17 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 second, just 0.038 seconds behind Tincknell. Kubica put the #83 AF Corse Ferrari third with a 1m31.796s effort, leaving the top three covered by only 0.084 seconds.
The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, driven by Alex Lynn, Norman Nato and Will Stevens, finished fourth. Toyota completed the top five, with its #7 TR010 Hybrid ahead of the second JOTA Cadillac.
The remaining cars in the top ten were the #50 Ferrari, #8 Toyota, #15 BMW M Team WRT and #009 Aston Martin. The title-challenging #20 BMW ended FP2 in 14th, while Peugeot and Alpine entries were also outside the top ten. Toyota and BMW’s relative pace is one thread to follow in our report on Toyota’s view of the Barcelona challenge.
Gehrsitz puts McLaren first in LMGT3
Finn Gehrsitz led the LMGT3 class for Garage 59, sharing the #58 McLaren with Alexander West and Benjamin Goethe. His 1m41.650s lap was three tenths quicker than the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus of Hadrien David, Esteban Masson and Tom Van Rompuy, which took second.
The #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG finished third. Heart of Racing Team’s #27 Aston Martin improved on its morning pace to take fourth, with Ian James, Mattia Drudi and Zacharie Robichon setting a best of 1m42.285s. A late lap put the #69 Team WRT BMW fifth, while the second Akkodis ASP Lexus completed the top six.
Both Corvette entries had a difficult session: the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF and #33 TF Sport cars finished 16th and 17th. The Barcelona weekend’s wider championship picture is covered in our WEC title-battle preview.
The final practice sessions are scheduled for Saturday, 17 October. LMGT3 is due on track at 08:50 local time, followed by Hypercar at 12:40.