WEC Qatar: Cadillac ends Porsche's monopoly in final practice

Porsche had dominated the Prologue as well as the first two practice sessions for the 10-hour fixture at Qatar with its 963 LMDh, but Cadillac surged ahead in relatively hotter conditions on Friday morning.

Alex Lynn set a time of 1m40.667s in the Chip Ganassi-entered Cadillac V-Series.R at the beginning of 60-minute FP3, overhauling the #5 Porsche Penske car of Matt Campbell by 0.180s.

Lynn’s time was almost seven tenths slower than the fastest lap of the week, set by Kevin Estre in the #6 factory Porsche in much cooler temperatures on Thursday evening, which means the German marque remains on the front foot heading into qualifying later on Friday.

Third place in FP3 went to the customer Jota squad, with Callum Ilott setting a time of 1m41.121s in the #12 963 to edge out the second factory Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor by 0.035s.

Peugeot again looked rapid over a single lap at the Losail International Circuit, as new recruit Stoffel Vandoorne ended up a solid fifth in the best of the two works 9X8, just two hundredths of a second behind Vanthoor’s Porsche.

Ferrari was the fourth-quickest manufacturer in FP3, but it was the AF Corse squad that led the Italian marque’s charge in final practice.

Yifei Ye got down to a 1m41.212s in the #83 Ferrari 499P to finish sixth, just ahead of the lead works car of Alessandro Pier Guidi in seventh.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Jean-Eric Vergne was next up in the #93 Peugeot, while Toyota could only manage the ninth-quickest time with Nyck de Vries at the wheel of the #7 GR010 Hybrid. De Vries’ best lap of 1m41.535s put the Japanese manufacturer almost nine tenths off the top spot, as it continued to struggle for both single-lap and long-run pace at Losail.

The top 10 was rounded out by Antonio Fuoco in the second of the two factory cars, the #50 499P.

Alpine was the highest-placed new entrant in Hypercar, with its two ORECA-based LMDh cars ending up 12th and 13th behind the Proton Porsche of Julien Andlauer. 

Nicolas Lapierre was the fastest of the Alpine drivers, but even his quickest lap was 1.5s down on Lynn’s chart-topping time in the Cadillac.

The two BMW M Hybrid V8s were classified 14th and 15h, while the sole Iron Lynx-run factory Lamborghini was 16th in the 19-car Hypercar field.

The second of the two Toyotas languished in 17th place, with Sebastien Buemi finishing two seconds off the pace in the #8 entry that won last year’s title.

Aston on top in LMGT3

#27 Heart Of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, Alex Riberas (Photo by: Shameem Fahath)

Aston Martin surged to the lead of the LMGT3 class late into the 60-minute FP3, with Alex Riberas going quickest in the #27 Heart of Racing-entered Vantage GT3.

Riberas’ last-gasp effort of 1m54.964s helped him dislodge the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 G3 that had held the top spot from the beginning of the session following an early qualifying sim from factory driver Davide Rigon.

Simon Mann in the sister #53 Ferrari finished third in class, a quarter of a second off Riberas’ best time.

Frank Perera was fourth in the #55 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3, while Marco Sorensen made it two cars from Aston Martin in the top five with a time of 1m55.346s in the D’station-run #777 Vantage.

FP3 was interrupted by a brief red flag after 15 minutes of running when James Cottingham beached his #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 at Turn 5.

Last year’s British GT championship runner-up was eventually able to get going again, allowing the session to be resumed.

WEC Qatar - FP3 results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn S. Bourdais	Cadillac V-Series.R	24	1'40.667		192.396
2	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	30	+0.180 1'40.847	0.180	192.053
3	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott N. Nato	Porsche 963	29	+0.454 1'41.121	0.274	191.532
4	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	29	+0.489 1'41.156	0.035	191.466
5	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8	27	+0.509 1'41.176	0.020	191.428
6	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	29	+0.545 1'41.212	0.036	191.360
7	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	30	+0.659 1'41.326	0.114	191.145
8	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	26	+0.715 1'41.382	0.056	191.039
9	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	29	+0.868 1'41.535	0.153	190.751
10	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	27	+1.219 1'41.886	0.351	190.094
11	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	H. Tincknell N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	28	+1.319 1'41.986	0.100	189.908
12	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	28	+1.544 1'42.211	0.225	189.490
13	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	P. Chatin F. Habsburg C. Milesi	Alpine A424	28	+1.801 1'42.468	0.257	189.015
14	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	29	+1.956 1'42.623	0.155	188.729
15	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	28	+1.974 1'42.641	0.018	188.696
16	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	15	+1.986 1'42.653	0.012	188.674
17	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	30	+2.024 1'42.691	0.038	188.604
18	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	25	+2.173 1'42.840	0.149	188.331
19	Isotta Fraschini HYPERCAR	11	A. Serravalle C. Bennett J. Vernay	Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C	27	+3.870 1'44.537	1.697	185.274
20	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	27	+14.297 1'54.964	10.427	168.470
21	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	25	+14.350 1'55.017	0.053	168.392
22	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	23	+14.537 1'55.204	0.187	168.119
23	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	25	+14.593 1'55.260	0.056	168.037
24	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	26	+14.679 1'55.346	0.086	167.912
25	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	26	+14.681 1'55.348	0.002	167.909
26	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	26	+14.700 1'55.367	0.019	167.881
27	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	22	+14.997 1'55.664	0.297	167.450
28	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	26	+15.171 1'55.838	0.174	167.199
29	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	24	+15.272 1'55.939	0.101	167.053
30	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy D. Pin M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	26	+15.318 1'55.985	0.046	166.987
31	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin T. Boguslavskiy K. van der Linde	Lexus RC F GT3	22	+15.417 1'56.084	0.099	166.844
32	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	19	+15.497 1'56.164	0.080	166.729
33	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	23	+15.654 1'56.321	0.157	166.504
34	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	G. Roda M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	24	+15.871 1'56.538	0.217	166.194
35	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	25	+16.094 1'56.761	0.223	165.877
36	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	24	+16.167 1'56.834	0.073	165.773
37	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	1
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