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Autosport

Sport

WEC COTA: Cadillac heads Ferrari in ultra-close final practice

Ferrari Cadillac COTA WEC Porsche Toyota Alex Lynn Kamui Kobayashi BMW Lamborghini

Cadillac topped the timesheets in final practice for this weekend’s World Endurance Championship event at Austin.

Alex Lynn set a best time of 1m51.571s in the sole Ganassi-entered Cadillac V-Series.R to put the American marque at the front, with Ferrari and Toyota finishing close behind in second and third respectively.

It didn’t take long for lap times to tumble in the hour-long session at the Circuit of the Americas, as the mercury dropped from over 30C on Friday to 28.6C on Saturday morning.

Less than 10 minutes after the start of proceedings, Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi had already bested the time set by Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari 499P LMH in FP2, going seventh tenths quicker on a 1m51.533s.

Giovinazzi responded on his next flying lap, but his 1m51.767s effort fell two more than tenths short of Kobayashi’s time.

Just a minute later, Lynn took to the top in his Cadillac, edging out Kobayashi’s effort in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH by just 0.040s. His lap was not beaten in the remaining 45 minutes of the session, as teams switched their focus to longer runs at higher fuel levels.

Kobayashi dropped to third in the final order behind Antonio Fuoco in the best of the two factory Ferraris, the Italian getting down to within 0.040s of Lynn’s time aboard the #50 entry after leaving his fastest lap until the end of his first run.

Robert Kubica put the satellite AF Corse-entered #83 Ferrari into fourth with a mid-session lap of 1m51.534s, edging out the other works Toyota entry whose fastest lap was set by Sebastien Buemi.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

The first five cars were separated by just 0.072s in what was an ultra-competitive session, as Cadillac, Ferrari and Toyota all looked almost undistinguishable over a single lap.

The fastest Porsche was the #12 customer Jota 963 in sixth, courtesy of an early effort of 1m51.712s by Norman Nato.

Giovinazzi ended up seventh in the #51 Ferrari, while Mick Schumacher put the #36 Alpine A424 LMDh a solid eighth with a time that was just 0.324s down on Lynn’s best.

Julien Andlauer was ninth in the Proton Porsche ahead of 2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button in the #38 Jota entry, both drivers beating the two works Penske Porsche Motorsport 963s of Kevin Estre and Matt Campbell that finished 11th and 12th respectively - both being half a second off the pace.

Peugeot struggled to 14th and 16th places with its 9X8 LMH, while BMW had an even tougher session with its WRT-run M Hybrid V8 LMDhs en route to 16th and 18th as they sandwiched the sole Lamborghini SC63 LMDh.

In LMGT3, Daniel Juncadella kept the TF Sport squad at the front with a late time of 2m05.178s in the #82 Corvette Z06.R, beating his own benchmark from Friday by four tenths of a second.

His team-mate Charlie Eastwood made it a 1-2 for Corvette with a time that was 0.173s slower, while Davide Rigon ended up third in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 on a 2m05.542s.

#82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R: Hiroshi Koizumi, Sebastien Baud, Daniel Juncadella (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

The late efforts from the trio dropped Gregoire Saucy in the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 to fourth, while Alex Riberas finished fifth in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin that had led a major chunk of the session following an early lap from bronze driver and team owner Ian James.

The final practice session of the weekend was completed without any major interruptions, save for a brief full-course yellow period with 20 minutes left on the clock to retrieve debris from the opening sector.

WEC COTA FP3 Results:

1 - 2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	27	1'51.471		178.044
2	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	29	+0.040 1'51.511	0.040	177.980
3	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	27	+0.062 1'51.533	0.022	177.945
4	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	28	+0.063 1'51.534	0.001	177.943
5	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	30	+0.072 1'51.543	0.009	177.929
6	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott N. Nato	Porsche 963	29	+0.241 1'51.712	0.169	177.660
7	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	29	+0.296 1'51.767	0.055	177.572
8	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	28	+0.324 1'51.795	0.028	177.528
9	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	H. Tincknell N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	29	+0.357 1'51.828	0.033	177.476
10	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	29	+0.383 1'51.854	0.026	177.434
11	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	21	+0.541 1'52.012	0.158	177.184
12	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	29	+0.614 1'52.085	0.073	177.069
13	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	P. Chatin F. Habsburg C. Milesi	Alpine A424	28	+0.884 1'52.355	0.270	176.643
14	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	22	+0.960 1'52.431	0.076	176.524
15	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	22	+1.065 1'52.536	0.105	176.359
16	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	30	+1.242 1'52.713	0.177	176.082
17	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	24	+1.723 1'53.194	0.481	175.334
18	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	30	+1.999 1'53.470	0.276	174.907
19	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	26	+13.707 2'05.178	11.708	158.548
20	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	26	+13.880 2'05.351	0.173	158.329
21	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	25	+14.071 2'05.542	0.191	158.088
22	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	24	+14.078 2'05.549	0.007	158.080
23	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	25	+14.150 2'05.621	0.072	157.989
24	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	26	+14.299 2'05.770	0.149	157.802
25	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	26	+14.308 2'05.779	0.009	157.791
26	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	24	+14.321 2'05.792	0.013	157.774
27	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	25	+14.560 2'06.031	0.239	157.475
28	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	25	+14.585 2'06.056	0.025	157.444
29	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	27	+14.798 2'06.269	0.213	157.178
30	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin C. Schmid K. van der Linde	Lexus RC F GT3	24	+14.859 2'06.330	0.061	157.102
31	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	24	+14.863 2'06.334	0.004	157.097
32	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy R. Frey M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	24	+14.902 2'06.373	0.039	157.049
33	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	24	+14.952 2'06.423	0.050	156.987
34	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	25	+14.963 2'06.434	0.011	156.973
35	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	B. Keating M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	24	+15.002 2'06.473	0.039	156.925
36	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	23	+15.094 2'06.565	0.092	156.811
View full results