Kevin Estre was quickest in the third FIA World Endurance Championship pre-season test ‘Prologue’ session, extended due a prolonged red flag.
After just 15 minutes, third session began in dramatic circumstances when Racing Spirit of LeMan’s Derek Deboer heavily crashed his #10 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 EVO between Turns 4 and 5.
After the incident, Deboer was confirmed well and a red flag allowed for guard rail barrier repairs over the next hour and a half.
The session restarted at 1.22pm local or 10.22am GMT with a 60-minute extension added to the initial three-hour session, thus 2-hours and 36-minutes remained.
Meanwhile Proton Competition confirmed their #77 Ford Mustang LMGT3 would not take part in the Prologue’s final two sessions since suffering a fire yesterday and will instead rejoin the action at the start of Free Practice 1, for the Qatar 1812 km season-opener, next Wednesday 26 February.
Track action resumed green flag running as teams were adamant to utilise the time remaining in the session, concentrating on gaining mileage and longer runs for the Hypercar and LMGT3 competitors.
Celia Martin‘s #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 LMGT3.R and the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of Francois Heriau made contact, so a full-course-yellow period was called.
The Dame stopped just after Turn 2 then continued to the pits as a double yellow held at Turn 3, possibly due to clear debris from their clash. Race control summoned the two drivers for the end of the session.
Two more temporary FCYs deployed with the latter pertaining to to debris on-track at T2.
Harry Tincknell of the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar found himself stuck in the gravel trap between T15-16 with 20-minutes remaining, triggering a fourth FCY to the end.
Porsche Penske fronts Hypercar field, TF Sport heads LMGT3s
By the end of the third WEC Prologue test, the reigning WEC Hypercar champion set a quickest lap time of 1:40.428 in the #6 Porsche 963 Hypercar.
Robert Kubica took second place with his 1:40.777 in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P as last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours winning-Hypercar finished third.
Nicklas Nielsen set a lap time of 1:40.942 in the #50 Ferrari 499P.
JOTA Cadillac claimed fourth place with their #38 V-Series.R Hypercar and a 1:41.064 set by Sebastien Bourdais.
The other factory Ferrari Hypercar, the #51 499P, rounded out the top-five finishers in the hands of James Calado and his 1:41.070 lap time.
TF Sport headed the LMGT3 category as Daniel Juncadella set a 1:55.241 in the #33 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R.
AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 claimed second owing to Davide Rigon’s 1:55.382.
Finn Gehrsitz’s #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 (P3) drove a fastest time of 1:55.414 in front of the other TF Sport Corvette, the #81.
Charlie Eastwood set a 1:55.458 in the #81 Corvette as Kelvin van der Linde concluded the top-five in his #46 BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO (1:55.527).
Session 4 (four-hours) will conclude the 2025 WEC Prologue from 5-9pm local time in Qatar or 2-6pm UTC.
