6 Hours of Monza: Thursday practices (FP1 and 2)
Overall ranking
The fastest lap performed by Pier Guidi with Ferrari #51 (1: 37.533) during the morning session (FP1) was considerably improved by 10 drivers during the afternoon session (FP2). Kamui Kobayashi did set the benchmark in 1:36.363.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Toyota GR010 HYBRID #7.
His co-drivers Mike Conway did set the 10th fastest lap (1:37.487) and 11th for Jose Maria Lopez (1:37.579). Remarkable performance from the three drivers of the Toyota GR010 HYBRID #7 as none of the other Hypercars team have been able to achieve such a narrow gap between the three drivers in one single team.
Both Toyota GR010 Hybrid focused on comparing different aerodynamic and mechanical settings, as well as control systems, to establish baseline set-ups for the rest of the event in the morning session. In the late afternoon session, both GR010 HYBRIDs focused on the two compounds of Michelin tyres available in Monza. As well as performance, the durability of the medium and hard compounds was also analysed on an afternoon when track temperatures came close to 50°C.
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “It’s nice to be back in the car after Le Mans. We made a decent start to the week and everything ran well. One of our priorities was to test both tyre compounds to understand which tyres are best for us in the race because this will be a crucial point. We have also made positive progress on car balance and we will keep working on this. The gap between the leading Hypercars is quite small so we need to focus on car performance. We will push hard and let’s see tomorrow who will be on top in qualifying.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Kobayashi tops the timing sheets by 0.170secs from Antonio Fuoco with the #50 Ferrari.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Toyota GR010 HYBRID #7.
World Championship leader Brendon Hartley (together with Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa) was third fastest in his #8 GR010 HYBRID, a further 0.153secs back.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Toyota GR010 HYBRID #8.
Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It’s been a smooth opening day, with no major issues on the cars. It looks like it is very close at the top and it’s hard to predict at this stage who has the advantage for qualifying. It could be a fight between five different manufacturers. We will focus a bit on qualifying but obviously the bigger priority is the race and that will be an incredibly tight battle as well. We are working through our programme, testing things on set-up and the different tyre compounds. The week has started well.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The last one within half second from Kobayashi is Alex Lynn with the Cadillac V-Series.R #2 who sets the fourth performance of the day in 1:36.748..
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Cadillac V-Series.R #2.
LMP2 top 3
In LMP2, it were the leaders of the 24 hours of Le Mans who dominated the day's sessions with Kubica achieving the fastest lap driving his WRT Oreca #41 ahead of Albert Costa with Inter Europol Competition Oreca #34. The second Team WRT Oreca is third thanks to Ferdinand Habsburg with #31. The three are within 0.207 seconds.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Both Team WRT with Inter Europol Competition in between.
LMGTE AM
Picariello with Porsche 911 RSR- 19 literally flew over the two FPs by beating the second fastest in class by four tenth and his bronze teammate by more than four seconds!
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Picariello with Porsche 911 RSR #60..
Related News
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans. 6 Hours of Monza: Leaders preview
📷 © Luc Warnotte during test day at Le Mans. 24 Hours of Le Mans: Ferrari wins
📷 © Luc Warnotte during test day at Le Mans. 24 Hours of Le Mans: Qualifying
