Dramatically modified this winter, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage set the fastest time of the GTE Pro category. In LM P1, Audi dominated the timesheets, but the order could be upset by the arrival of rain in qualifying.

In the internal struggle between the Audi drivers, Treluyer, Fässler and Lotterer seem to have the upper hand. The trio who were victorious in the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours, dominated all three practice sessions of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps WEC and are favourites for qualifying this afternoon at 15.10. The question is, how would the four wheel drive prototype perform if heavy rain were to arrive at Spa-Francorchamps?

For a while sandwiched between Audi, Neel Jani in Lola-Toyota #13)finally ended the session in 5th place 3.309 seconds from fellow Swiss driver Marcel Fässler. Behind them, the other Lola-Toyota of Rebellion Racing #12, ahead of the Honda driven by Danny Watts. The time lost yesterday in a lengthy repair to the gearbox does not seem to have compromised the confidence of Strakka.

During qualifying, the fight in LM P2 went to the Oreca of Pecom Racing from the Oak Pescarolo #24. Since yesterday, these two cars are regularly exchanged the leading position in their class.

The surprise was in LM GTE Pro: The Aston Martin V8 Vantage emerged at the forefront. For its official return to GT, the English manufacturer seems able to upset the duel between the two historic rivals of the class; Porsche and Ferrari ... This bodes well for the upcoming Le Mans 24 Hours!

Finally, GTE Am, Jean-Philippe Belloc set the fastest time in Corvette #70.

Next WEC track action is this afternoon, at 15:10 for the two qualifying sessions that may be disturbed by rain.

LM P1 : Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro / Audi Sport Team Joest) in 2:01.998
LM P2 : Perez Companc-Kaffer-Ayari (Oreca-Nissan / Pecom Racing) in 2:09.170
LM GTE Pro : Mücke-Fernandez-Turner (Aston Martin V8 Vantage / Aston Martin Racing) in 2:19.785
LM GTE Am : Bourret-Gibon-Belloc (Corvette C6-ZR1 / Team Larbre Compétition) in 2:22.073

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Julien Hergault

Photo: FRANCORCHAMPS (LIEGE, BELGIUM), SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Thursday, 3rd May, 2012. Aston Martin V8 Vantage.