Returning Toyota driver Nicolas Lapierre set the fastest time of the two-day World Endurance Championship Prologue during the final three-hour session on Sunday afternoon at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Lapierre, who will pilot the Toyota TS050 Hybrid at Spa and Le Mans this year, recorded a time of 1:30.547, to put the #8 car on top of the timesheets.
The #8 car ended up with the two quickest times of the afternoon session as Anthony Davidson set a 1:30.809, 0.262s behind Lapierre.
Toyota wound up with a 1-2 to round out the Prologue, as Kamui Kobayashi set a 1:31.477 in the #7 machine, 0.930s adrift of Lapierre.
Porsche therefore took third and fourth position, the #1 in front of the #2, with Nick Tandy setting the marque’s fastest time of the afternoon, a 1:31.844, 1.297s down on Lapierre.
Timo Bernhard was fourth in the other LMP1 entry, following the early withdrawal of ByKolles, while Jackie Chan DC Racing’s Ho-Pin Tung led a closely-contested LMP2 field in the #38, 0.111s ahead of the #35 Signature Alpine entry.
Manor newcomer Vitaly Petrov placed third in class, just 0.031s shy of Nelson Panciatici, while the #36 Signature Alpine, which took fourth courtesy of Gustavo Menezes, caused a red flag when Matt Rao went off at Lesmo 2.
Ford took a 1-2 in the GTE Pro division, with Harry Tincknell in the #67 finishing just 0.042s ahead of Olivier Pla in the #66.
