The run-up to Season 9 of the FIA World Endurance Championship is steaming forward at an accelerated pace. Ahead of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 1 May, the series' competitors took to the track for the first of two days of the pre-season prologue. Eighteen cars tackled the 7,004-metre Belgian track, seven of which bore the Prancing Horse badge.
LMGTE Pro. The two AF Corse 488 GTEs began the work programme to select the best set-up for this challenging circuit. Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado took turns in car no. 51 and Miguel Molina in no. 52. Even if not very significant at this stage, the lap times saw the Prancing Horse cars a little behind the Porsches that set the best times.
LMGTE Am. Five Maranello cars took to the track today, with good performances from the 488 GTE reigning champion, the AF Corse car with Nicklas Nielsen, François Perrodo and Alessio Rovera, and for the Cetilar team making its debut (in the class) with Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Antonio Fuoco. The performances of the second AF Corse car, crewed by Thomas Flohr, Giancarlo Fisichella and Francesco Castellacci, the Iron Lynx no. 85 with Rahel Frey, Manuela Gostner and Katherine Legge and the twin no. 60 with Claudio Schiavoni, Andrea Piccini and Matteo Cressoni at the wheel were also very close.
Programme. The prologue will conclude tomorrow afternoon, while on Thursday from 3:30 pm local time, the official programme of the first round of Season 9 of the FIA WEC will get underway.