Aston Martin tops both Hypercar and LMGT3 in FP2 at Cota
Aston Martin has just done the unthinkable, sweeping the top spot in both Hypercar and LMGT3 classes during the second free practice session at . It is a stunning statement of intent as teams prep for Sunday's Lone Star Le Mans round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Let me tell you, the #007 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie Hypercar was an absolute beast on track. wrung every ounce of performance out of the machine to peak on a rapid lap of 1m52.567s. That effort proved to be 0.122s faster than the #35 Alpine A424 piloted by , in the car the Portuguese star shares with and .
Genesis Magma Racing continued its strong pace as the South Korean marque pushes through its debut season in FIA WEC. An early lap of 1m52.811s set by the series' inaugural champion proved good enough for third position. Alpine also placed fourth with the #36 car, as maintains his strong claim to be the most impressive rookie so far this season.
Fifth-quickest in FP2 and the highest-placed Ferrari was the #83 499P Hypercar, as and attempt to reprise their 2024 victory at COTA alongside team-mate , who recently extended his contract with the Prancing Horse. The two Ferrari AF Corse-entered 499P Hypercars ended the session just behind in sixth and seventh positions, with the #50 car narrowly shading the sister #51 entry. The second of the Aston Martin Valkyries placed eighth, as and again drive as a duo at COTA this weekend. Meanwhile, the pair of BMW M Hybrid Hypercars completed the top ten positions, with the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo-winning #15 car a scant 0.009s ahead of the #20 car.
Over in the immensely competitive LMGT3 category, Aston Martin were also at the head of the pack. Zac Robichon punched in a late lap of 2m05.609s in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage to seal the deal. Iron Lynx had initially bossed the FP2 session at COTA as Mercedes locked out the top two positions for the majority of the session to signal a warning to its competitors for the Lone Star Le Mans race this Sunday. Maxime Martin set a rapid lap of 2m06.049 in the #61 machine to head the #79 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 challenger with Matteo Cressoni achieving that cars best lap of 2m06.138s.