Defending FIA World Endurance Champion Kévin Estre put Porsche back at the top of the timesheets in an accident-plagued FP2 at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon, delivering a welcome boost to the German manufacturer following a tough start to the season.
Kévin Estre driving the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 Hybrid Hypercar emerged fastest in the second free practice session at Spa-Francorchamps, in preparation for Saturday’s third round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship.
The #6 Porsche, which will see reigning FIA Formula E world champion Pascal Wehrlein make his FIA WEC debut this weekend alongside Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, peaked with a 2m01.475s best.
That time proved to be just 0.091s quicker than FP1 top dog, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse. The Qatar winners continued to be rapid in the second free practice session with the second-fastest time set by Antonio Fuoco, who stopped the clocks on a 2m01.566s.
However, an incident in the later part of the session saw the scarlet machine sustain front-end damage, with the team setting to work on the car after it was crashed by Miguel Molina.
Placing third in the 90-minute FP2 was the #20 BMW M Team WRT entry, making it three different marques inside the top three. Dutchman Robin Frijns stopped the clocks with a best effort of 2m01.785s.
That time was just 0.111s ahead of the fastest Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA car, the #12 challenger in fourth place, courtesy of a time set by Alex Lynn.
Completing the top six were the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 Hybrid and #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, in the hands of Julien Andlauer and Robert Kubica respectively.
The session was red-flagged on three occasions for incidents. The #51 Ferrari AF Corse of Antonio Giovinazzi crashed on the out-lap at Raidillon, Stephen Grove had a similar incident in the #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes and then Tom Gamble went off the road at Pouhon in the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie.
The #51 Ferrari was able to be repaired, and briefly returned to the track just as the session ended.
All three drivers emerged unhurt from the accidents, but each of the cars require significant attention in readiness for further running.
Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin topped the LMGT3 category, as Zacharie Robichon set the quickest lap of the session with a 2m18.326s benchmark in the British machine.
The Canadian outpaced the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus by a slender 0.052s, with Clemens Schmid posting the best time in the Japanese brand’s much-improved LMGT3 challenger this season.
Making it three manufacturers inside the top three, like in Hypercar, was the #54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari piloted by Davide Rigon. His fastest lap of 2m18.881s was 0.5s shy of the second-placed Lexus.
The top six was completed by the #10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin, the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang and the #46 Team WRT BMW. Eduardo Barrichello, Dennis Olsen and Valentino Rossi set the times respectively.
The final free practice session at Spa-Francorchamps is due to begin at 11:00 CET on Friday morning.
For the full FP2 classification, click HERE.
Watch FIA WEC live or on demand via the official FIA WEC TV app – your full-access pass to the FIA World Endurance Championship including the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. Don’t miss a moment. For further information, check out the app.
