GARY WATKINS
PIT + PADDOCK
WEC Porsche took first blood in the pre-season World Endurance Championship Prologue ahead of this weekend’s Qatar 1812Km. Its 963 LMDh ended up fastest overall as well as topping the times in each of the four sessions of the delayed two-day test on the Losail International Circuit.
Frederic Makowiecki was quickest overall in the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport car in the final session on Tuesday afternoon. The Frenchman posted 1m40.404s early in the three hours, which was initially 0.8s clear of the field. But it stood until the chequered flag despite a flurry of quick times as conditions cooled towards the 1700 finish.
Alex Lynn jumped to second aboard the solo Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R with a 1m40.621s, and then improved to a 1m40.458s to finish 0.054s off Makowiecki. Team-mate Earl Bamber had been second for the majority of the session until the late improvements.
Yifei Ye moved up to third in session in the customer AF Corse Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar courtesy of a 1m40.749s with 15 minutes left on the clock. The time promoted him ahead of the AF-run factory #51 Ferrari in which Antonio Giovinazzi posted a 1m40.926s late on after losing a slightly faster time to a track-limits deletion.
Makowiecki had also led the way in the morning session on Tuesday, while the Jota Porsche squad topped the times in the opening two periods on Monday. Because the Prologue had been pushed back from Saturday and Sunday as a result of shipping delays caused by the geopolitical situation in the Red Sea, teams were required to participate in three of the four sessions including the middle two. Jota’s 963s were two of only three Hypercar entries to take part in session one, Norman Nato and Jenson Button ending up 1-2.
The team then hit the ground running in the Monday evening session. Callum Ilott posted a 1m40.541s early on and this stood as fastest time of the
