#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Andreas Beil
With Hyperpole the only pure-performance exercise still coming up – and involving just 24 of the 62 entries – everyone focused on race preparation with long runs during the three-hour Thursday afternoon session.
Fuoco set the quickest time in 3m27.283s – nearly three seconds slower than the #15 BMW's qualifying effort at the hands of Dries Vanthoor yesterday, with the Belgian third quickest in 3m27.432s.
Porsche took second place thanks to Kevin Estre's 3m27.391s effort in the #6 963, while Sebastien Bourdais lapped in 3m27.471s with the #3 Cadillac.
Toyota was the fifth manufacturer in the top five, with Kamui Kobayashi setting a 3m27.803s at the wheel of the #7 Toyota.
Three Cadillac drivers were the next references, close to a second slower than the leading Porsche.
Alex Lynn was the most competitive of them in 3m28.245s, while his #2 team-mate Alex Palou had previously lapped in 3m28.442s. Meanwhile, Felipe Drugovich's #311 Action Express-run entry set a 3m28.345s.
The #8 Toyota took eighth place in 3m28.642s thanks to Brendon Hartley, despite an inconsequential trip through the gravel at pit entry for team-mate Sebastian Buemi.
Alpine, Lamborghini, BMW and Peugeot also lapped in 3m30.000s or less, with only Isotta Fraschini lagging far behind. The #11 car didn't manage any better than a 3m31.461s.
Meanwhile, Jota's #12 entry shared by Callum Ilott, Norman Nato and Will Stevens didn't run at all, as it is in the process of being built on a new monocoque following Ilott's crash in FP2 last night.
#59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa, Gregoire Saucy
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
In LMP2, the #65 Panis Racing ORECA had an unusual session, topping the times in 3m37.217s before crashing twice. First, Rodrigo Sales spun and hit the wall at the exit of the Ford Chicane, then Scott Huffaker went off at Indianapolis.
Cool Racing's #47 machine was 0.125s away from the reference, with AO by TF's #14 machine registering a deficit of just under half a second.
Similarly, the GT3 class was topped by United Autosports' #59 McLaren despite James Cottingham crashing it at Tertre Rouge after putting two wheels on the grass. The incident caused FP3's only red flag halfway through the session, with Frederik Schandorff stopping the #70 McLaren after Mulsanne corner seconds later.
The #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini was just six thousandths of a second off the top, with GR Racing's #86 Ferrari taking third place in the category.
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Source: Autosport