Porsche Penske’s Kevin Estre was quickest in the third and final free practice session for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Bright and warm conditions welcomed all 37 cars into the 1-hour session with qualifying next on the schedule, and so this meant teams would engage in qualifying simulations in preparation for the challenge.
During the opening minutes, Callum Ilott of the #12 Porsche 963 JOTA locked up into the bus-stop chicane as he explored the limits into one of the heaviest breaking zones.
Le Mans Centenary pole-sitter Antonio Fuoco briefly crossed the white line at the pit lane exit and so incurred a five-minute stop-and-go penalty for the #50 Ferrari 499P.
Meanwhile for the #83 499P, the team ran just 10 laps after encountering braking problems, as a system bleed proved not enough to delay their FP3 plans.
It was instructed that the white line is to be treated like a concrete wall and so the stewards will award penalties for any form of crossing, especially given the traffic speeding down after La Source.
In the final minutes, Oliver Rasmussen had a dramatic off at Turn 17 – which was declared slippery afterwards – in which he took on significant front and underfloor bodywork damage after driving over – and his Porsche partially bouncing into – the grass.
At the end of the session, Kevin Estre set the fastest lap time in the #6 Porsche Penske 963, a 2:04.125.
James Calado put the #51 Ferrari Hypercar in second with a quickest lap of 2:04.340, followed by the #93 Peugeot 9X8 in third after Mikkel Jensen set a 2:04.357.
Fourth position in the Hypercar class was taken by Fuoco of the #50 with a 2:04.374, as Dries Vanthoor rounded the top-five in the #15 BMW WRT M Hybrid V8 with a 2:04.465.
Meanwhile in LMGT3, the #82 TF Sport Corvette Z06.R LMGT3 driven by Hiroshi Koizumi spun around and was stranded at Turns 5 and 6 which triggered a full-course-yellow (FCY) period before the session returned to green flag conditions with under 40 minutes remaining.
Michelle Gatting, one of the Iron Dames in the #85 Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2, incurred a five-minute stop-and-go penalty for speed infringement during the FCY.
A second yet brief FCY was declared as the session approached its conclusion with some minor debris at the exit of Turn 19 [the final corner].
The drivers were exploring the track limits with their GT cars able to use the kerbs differently in comparison to the Hypercars.
More specifically, they could ride the kerbs alike the way the Hypercars could do at Imola.
Unfortunately for Takeshi Kimura in the #87 Lexus RC F, he received a five-minute stop-and-go penalty for exceeding track limits.
At the end of FP3, Alex Malaykhin put the #92 Porsche Manthey 911 in P1 with a time of 2:20.947 ahead of Rahel Frey from the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini in second from a 2:21.208.
Third position in the LMGT3 class was secured by Daniel Juncadella in the #82 TF Sport Corvette with a 2:21.594.
Thomas Flohr took the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 to P4 from a 2:21.618, as Yasser Yashin rounded off the top-five in the other Manthey Porsche, the #91, after setting a fastest lap time of 2:21.642.
