Prologue: #8 Toyota LMH fastest in final S9 pre-season test session

The #8 Toyota GAZOO Racing topped the afternoon session during the final day of pre-season testing ahead of the 6 Hours of Spa on May 1.

The fourth and final testing session of the Season 9 Prologue featured more smoother proceedings throughout the field with the non-participation of the #29 Racing Team Nederland and the #85 Iron Lynx who collided this morning.

The Hypercars found themselves towards the top of the time-sheets though it is clear that their true pace is yet to be shown in the final three hour session.

• PROLOGUE DAY 1 / MORNING: United Autosports tops eventful morning session, TF Sport with two cars at Raidillon
• PROLOGUE DAY 1 / AFTERNOON: United Autosports tops final session of opening day, #7 Toyota loses vital track time
• PROLOGUE DAY 2 / MORNING: G-Drive Racing fastest, Porsches 1-2 over GTE field

The #85 are making a move identical to TF Sport by bringing their European Le Mans Series Ferrari 488 GTE-Evo for this weekend.

A statement by the Iron Dames on Instagram said:

“Unfortunately during today’s practice, car #85 driven by Katherine Legge was a victim of an unsupportive (unsporting) manoeuvre from a LMP2 car (#29).

“The safety of our driver and team members is our main priority and were are happy to confirm Katherine is safe and well and is up for racing this weekend together with the Iron Dames.”

Let’s finish the #WECPrologue on a high with…THIS! 👀👇🏻

❤️ EAU ROUGE ❤️#WEC pic.twitter.com/GpCjup8PoI

— WEC (@FIAWEC) April 27, 2021

The #8 Toyota GAZOO Racing of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima went fastest with a best lap-time of 2m04.669s and completed 70 laps. They were the fastest of the three Hypercars.

The #22 United Autosports of Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and Fabio Scherer were second overall, splitting the #8 Toyota and the #36 Alpine, but went fastest over the LMP2 field for the third time at the Season 9 Prologue.

They accumulated 67 laps during the three-hour session and had a best time of 2m04.874s.

The #91 Porsche GT Team of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz topped the GTE field with a time 2m14.487s and had 73 laps completed during the session.

In GTE-Am, it was the #33 TF Sport crew of Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira, and Felipe Fraga who were fastest in the class with a 2m14.969s and 56 laps by the end of the session.

With the official pre-season Prologue testing now complete, the weekend awaits for opening round – the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.