Despite participating in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) for less than a year, the Hertz JOTA Porsche Team was the quickest in the WEC opening day Prologue event.
LUSAIL, Qatar—Norman Nato set the quickest time earlier in the day by taking a 1:41:822 in his Hypercar entry. The event, which was supposed to be run over the weekend, took place on Monday instead because of delays in shipping cars across the Red Sea.
Most of the Hypercar and the newest division, the GT3, decided mainly to do their testing in the evening event’s second part of the day. Calum Ilott was the best driver at night, as the number 12 Hertz JOTA Porsche once again had the quickest time, a 1:40:541, bettering his teammate, Nato. Right behind them was the Ferrari AF Corse 499 P, with Antonio Fuoco driving alongside Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina with the 38 JOTA Porsche of Jenson Button, along with Oliver Rasmussen and Phil Hanson finishing the day in third. The 51 Ferrari 499P with Antonio Giovinazzi, was fourth, 0.076 seconds behind Button’s car.
The first LMGT3 was a big success for United Autosports as Gregoire Saucy put down a time of 1:54:480 in this category, ahead of the Vista AF Corse Ferrari driven by Davide Rignon. Third in this new category was the Lexus Akkodis entry, driven by Esteban Masson, who was 0.023 off the pace of Rignon’s Ferrari.
The morning session had a few incidents, but the evening was a different story. Three flags came out before the end of the first night. Thomas Flohr was the first victim as his Vista AF Corse Ferrari broke down on the circuit and had to be recovered. Harry Tincknell’s Proton Porsche car was the second driver stranded in the turn three gravel halfway through the evening session. Even stranger was the final incident when a cat came onto the circuit, delaying things even more.
The final testing of the prologue will take place on Tuesday, when the first run will be scheduled between 10a and 1p, with the final event taking place between 2p-5p. Those runs will complete the testing of the cars in advance of 19 hypercars and 18 GT3 entries beginning the season this Saturday afternoon at the 1812-kilometer event.
