Credit: Nick Dungan / Porsche
Callum Ilott of #12 JOTA Porsche 963 set the fastest lap time on the first day of testing for the FIA World Endurance Championship 2024 in Qatar. The pre-season Prologue test took place at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, after some teams experienced delays in the delivery of their race cars. The first day had two sessions, with Ilott setting the fastest lap for JOTA in the second session. The first session included nine cars from five teams, while the second session saw several track limit violations during the five-hour session.
Teams had the option to participate in Session 1 or Session 4, in addition to Sessions 2 and 3, resulting in a total of eight hours of racing. Only JOTA and Isotta Fraschini in Hypercar, and Iron Lynx, TF Sport, and United Autosports from LMGT3 chose to participate in Session 1. As expected, the two JOTA Porsche 963 Hypercars were the fastest in Session 1. Frenchman Norman Nato set the fastest lap time for #12 JOTA 963, followed by Jenson Button in #38 and the #11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6-C.
The second session featured the full field of 37 cars and lasted five hours, transitioning from afternoon to night. There were some incidents, including a red flag at the beginning due to contact between #94 Peugeot 9X8 and #95 McLaren. The session also saw track limit violations and the implementation of Virtual Safety Car (VSC) and Safety Car procedures. In the end, Ilott set the fastest lap of Session 2, with the #50 499P from Ferrari AF Corse and the #38 JOTA 963 closely following.
In the LMGT3 category, the #82 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R from TF Sport initially led the times in Session 1, but the #59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo from United Autosports claimed first place with the fastest lap time set by Nicolas Costa. The #81 Z06 from TF Sport and the #95 720S from United Autosports secured second and third place, respectively. The session also saw drivers receiving warnings and penalties for track limit violations.
The Prologue will continue tomorrow with two three-hour sessions, providing more opportunities for teams to test and prepare for the upcoming season.
