Henri Dubois · Endurance Correspondent
Robert Kubica led the morning in a Ferrari, Harry Tincknell the afternoon in an Aston Martin. After the first day of practice in Montmeló, six Hypercars are covered by 0.267 seconds.
Anyone looking at the timesheets from the 6 Hours of Barcelona on Friday evening will find two different names at the top and, below them, a field that could hardly be closer. In first practice, Robert Kubica set the benchmark at 1:31.891 in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P; in second practice, Harry Tincknell lowered it to 1:31.712 in the No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie. Two 90-minute sessions were all the teams had on Friday to learn a circuit that has never hosted a WEC race.
First practice: three Ferraris in the top four
In the morning, only two drivers dipped below 1:32. Besides Kubica, that was Spaniard Alex Riberas in the second Valkyrie, the No. 009, 0.107 seconds back. Next came the two factory Ferraris, Antonio Giovinazzi in the No. 51 and Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50, separated by just 13 thousandths. Three 499Ps in the top four is a solid start for Ferrari, which needs points in Barcelona if the title decision is to wait until Monza, but it is still only a practice result.
Tincknell was fifth in the morning, still 0.825 seconds off, while Sébastien Buemi put the championship leaders' Toyota, the No. 8, in sixth. The two BMWs sat at the bottom of the Hypercar order in 16th and 17th, even though the No. 15 logged 52 laps, more than any other car in the field. Peugeot took 14th and 15th. The session was interrupted only once, around half an hour from the end, by a full course yellow of about five minutes.
Second practice: six cars within 0.267 seconds
In the afternoon the field closed up. Tincknell went to the top with a 1:31.712, just 0.038 seconds ahead of Mathys Jaubert in the No. 17 Genesis, who had been 12th in the morning. Genesis is the only Hypercar team that knows the circuit from testing at the end of 2025. Kubica was third and Will Stevens fourth in the No. 12 Cadillac, which means four cars beat the morning's best time. Nyck de Vries in the No. 7 Toyota and Jack Aitken in the second Cadillac, the No. 38, completed a group of six covered by 0.267 seconds. The session ran without incident.
The Hypercars set their fastest laps early, mostly within each car's first eight laps. Sportscar365 describes tire degradation in Barcelona as high, and that is exactly how the afternoon looked: anyone who wanted a fast lap had to do it on fresh tires, after which the focus shifted to long runs. For a six-hour race on unfamiliar asphalt, that second part is the more valuable one.
The factory Ferraris dropped back, Fuoco to seventh and the No. 51 to 12th. Ryō Hirakawa put the leading Toyota in eighth and Dries Vanthoor the quicker BMW in ninth, with Riberas tenth. That left both Toyotas between fifth and 11th in both sessions, out of the spotlight, which is not a bad place to be for a team that can wrap up two titles on Sunday. Peugeot and Alpine, by contrast, were well down the order: Théo Pourchaire was 11th in the No. 94, the two Alpines finished 15th and 16th, and the No. 93 Peugeot was last in class.
LMGT3: Ferrari in the morning, McLaren in the afternoon
In the GT class the day began with a one-two for Vista AF Corse. Alessio Rovera lapped the No. 21 Ferrari 296 in 1:41.420, with Davide Rigon 0.431 seconds back in the sister No. 54. Charlie Eastwood put the Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette in third, while Marvin Kirchhöfer in the No. 10 McLaren and Maxime Martin in the No. 61 Mercedes-AMG completed a top five featuring four manufacturers. The No. 27 Aston Martin of Heart of Racing, one of the title contenders, ended the morning last in class.
In the afternoon the order was almost completely reshuffled. Finn Gehrsitz took the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren, second to last in the morning, to the top with a 1:41.650, though that was still 0.230 seconds slower than Rovera's morning time. Hadrien David followed in the No. 78 Lexus of Akkodis ASP, and Lin Hodenius was third in the No. 79 Mercedes-AMG of Iron Lynx even though the car completed only 21 laps. The No. 27 worked its way up to fourth, and Parker Thompson was fifth in the No. 69 BMW of WRT. The two Ferraris dropped to ninth and 15th, and the two Corvettes ended up 16th and 17th.
What Saturday has to settle
On Saturday the classes go their separate ways. LMGT3 runs its third practice at 8:50 a.m., qualifying at 11:50 a.m. and Hyperpole at 12:10 p.m. local time. The Hypercars follow with final practice at 12:40 p.m., qualifying at 3:40 p.m. and Hyperpole at 4:00 p.m.
Above all, Friday showed in both classes how quickly the order shifts on this asphalt. A single fastest lap explains little. Whoever is in front after six hours on Sunday will owe it more to this afternoon's long runs than to that one quick lap at the start.
