Callum Ilott set the pace aboard the British team’s #12 Porsche 963 LMDh in the night session on Monday with a 1m40.541s laid down in the opening minutes of five hours running on the Losail International Circuit.
The two privateer Jota cars hit the ground running in the second of four sessions of the two-day Prologue after taking part in the optional Monday afternoon period, in which the majority of the Hypercar field did not participate.
Jenson Button was second in the times for the first two hours in the #38 entry with a 1m40.950s until he was leapfrogged by Antonio Fuoco in the best of the AF Corse-run factory Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars.
Fuoco got within three tenths of Ilott with a 1m40.673s aboard the #50 Ferrari, which demoted Button to third in the final times.
The #51 Ferrari was at the sharp end of the field from the beginning, James Calado lining up behind the Jota cars before team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi sealed fourth position with 1m41.026s.
Earl Bamber ended up fifth in the solo Ganassi-run Cadillac Racing entry.
The Kiwi moved up a position in the penultimate hour when he knocked four tenths off his previous mark. His 1m41.196s eclipsed Yifei Ye’s 1m49.465s to push AF’s customer Ferrari down to sixth.
A late improvement to 1m41.587s from Mikkel Jensen promoted the #93 Peugeot 9X8s LMH to seventh in the final classification.
Source: Autosport