The #708 Glickenhaus 007 of Romain Dumas set the pace in opening practice for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Monza, but it was the brand new Peugeot 9X8s capturing everyone’s attention.
Dumas set a fastest lap of 1:37.984 to top the session, over six tenths faster than Andre Negrao in the #36 Alpiner A480.
However, the #93 Peugeot 9X8 of Jean-Eric Vergne was third fastest, quicker than both Toyotas, setting a 1:38.802. The sister #94 Peugeot of James Rossiter was on a different programme, setting a 1:41.522.
The two Toyota GR010s set lap times of 1:39.120 for the #8 and 1:39.287 for the #7, driven by Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi, but they were the slowest manufacturer in the class.
In LMP2, pro/am car #83 AF Corse Oreca 07-Gibson set the class leading pace, a 1:39.973, with Francois Perrodo behind the wheel. Second in class was the #41 RealTeam by WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, driven by Norman Nato, while Esteban Guiterrez in the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07-Gibson was third.
Michael Christiansen was quickest in GTE-Pro for the #92 Porsche team, setting a 1:47.273. Second was #52 AF Corse Ferrari’s Antonio Fuco, while Nick Tandy was third for the #63 Corvette C8.R squad.
Finally, Ben Barnicoat in the #56 Team Ptroject 1 Porsche went quickest, with a 1:47.273 . Following him was the #86 GR Racing Porsche of Ricardo Pera, while third went to another Porsche, this time the sister #46 Team Project 1 Porsche, this time driven by Michael Pedersen.
