Toyota pips Porsche by 0.036 seconds in Spa FP1

Toyota driver Mike Conway pipped the two Porsche 919 Hybrids to top a close opening practice session for the Spa-Francorchamps round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Conway – driving the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid shared with Kamui Kobayashi – reeled off a time of 1:57.940s early into the 90-minute Thursday morning run, with the nearest Porsche of Brendon Hartley just 0.036 seconds off the pace.

Conway and Kobayashi are competing as a duo this weekend, following the confirmation that Jose Maria Lopez has been ruled out with a back injury.

RESULT: 6 Hours of Spa FP1

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At the Silverstone opener Porsche struggled to make its low downforce kit work, but the longer straights at Spa have helped reduced the gap between the two LMP1 hybrid manufacturers.

Backing up Hartley's 1:57.976s effort was Neel Jani in the sister 919 Hybrid, who finished 0.893 seconds off Conway.

Completing the top five were the two other Toyotas, including the additional car shared by Nicolas Lapierre, Yuji Kunimoto and Stephane Sarrazin.

In LMP2, Signatech Alpine topped the class as the top five entries finished within one second of pace-setter Gustavo Menezes.

As with Conway, Menezes set his benchark figure early in the session (2:04.171s), which was enough to edge out the G-Drive Racing ORECA 07-Gibson by 0.091 seconds.

Third in class was the #25 Manor-entered ORECA, ahead of the #31 Vaillante Rebellion ORECA.

In GTE-Pro, Ford stood at the top of the order after its pair of cars were hit with a fuel capacity restriction ahead of this weekend's race.

Driving the car that won the Silverstone opener, Andy Priaulx clocked a time of 2:16.802s to eclipse Frederic Makowiecki's Porsche 911 RSR by 0.122 seconds.

Ford and Porsche occupied the next two places, with Ferrari's pair of 488s and Aston Martin's pair of Vantages propping up the Pro ranks.

GTE-Am was led by the Porsche 911 RSR entered by Dempsey Proton Racing.

A second free practice session is set to take place later today (May 4th) at 16:45 local time.