WEC Barcelona practice: Tincknell puts the Valkyrie on top after Ferrari leads FP1

Harry Tincknell set the fastest lap of Friday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: 1:31.712 in the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie in second practice, 0.038 seconds ahead of Mathys Jaubert in the #17 Genesis. That came after Ferrari had led the morning, when the #83 AF Corse 499P topped first practice for the 6 Hours of Barcelona and three Ferraris finished in the top four.

Qualifying: Genesis took pole on Saturday. See the full starting grid.

Start times (local, CEST and US Eastern) and how to watch: 6 Hours of Barcelona 2026 schedule and how to watch.

Four cars inside a tenth in the afternoon

Second practice was far tighter at the front than the morning. Tincknell’s lap came early, on the fourth lap of his run, and it held for the rest of the 90 minutes. Jaubert went second for Genesis, the #83 Ferrari of Yifei Ye, Robert Kubica and Phil Hanson was third at 0.084 seconds, and Will Stevens put the #12 Cadillac fourth at 0.092 seconds. The top ten were covered by 0.623 seconds.

The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries was fifth. The #8 Toyota, which arrives in Barcelona leading the Hypercar drivers’ standings on 89 points, ten clear of the sister car after six rounds, was eighth. BMW, second in the manufacturers’ table, had the #15 in ninth and the #20 of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde in 14th.

The final classification notes lap times deleted for track limits across the field, and two cars, the #34 and #92 in LMGT3, also had laps removed by stewards’ decisions.

Second practice, Hypercar, all 17 cars. Positions within the class. Gap to the fastest Hypercar. Source: FIA WEC final classification (Al Kamel).

Garage 59 tops LMGT3 by a third of a second

In LMGT3 the #58 Garage 59 McLaren of Alexander West, Finn Gehrsitz and Benjamin Goethe was quickest in 1:41.650, 0.344 seconds clear of the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus. The Iron Lynx Mercedes #79 was third despite only 21 laps, the fewest of any car in the session.

The class leaders had a quieter afternoon. The #33 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nicky Catsburg, which leads the LMGT3 teams’ standings on 86 points, was 17th of 18. The Vista AF Corse Ferraris that topped the morning slipped to ninth (#54) and 15th (#21).

Second practice, LMGT3: class top five plus the #33 TF Sport Corvette, which leads the LMGT3 teams’ standings. Positions within the class, gap to the fastest LMGT3 car. Source: FIA WEC final classification (Al Kamel).

Ferrari had the morning to itself

First practice ran in warm, sunny weather with one procedural Full Course Yellow and no red flags. The #83 Ferrari led with 1:31.891, and the only car to split the Ferraris was the #009 Valkyrie of Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen, second at 0.107 seconds. The #51 and #50 factory 499Ps were third and fourth, separated by 0.013 seconds.

Ferrari also took the top two places in LMGT3, with the #21 Vista AF Corse 296 ahead of the #54 by 0.431 seconds. The #34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette was third, eight thousandths behind the #54.

First practice, Hypercar: top ten plus the #35 Alpine. Positions within the class, gap to the fastest Hypercar. Source: FIA WEC final classification (Al Kamel).

First practice, LMGT3: class top five plus the #33 TF Sport Corvette. Positions within the class, gap to the fastest LMGT3 car. Source: FIA WEC final classification (Al Kamel).

Alpine is still learning a circuit it last saw in 2023

Alpine came to Barcelona on its best run of the season, third and fifth at Austin and second and fourth at Fuji, where its two A424s led most of the race. Friday was harder. Jules Gounon and Victor Martins put the #36 eighth in the morning, but in the afternoon the #35 of Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg and the #36 finished 15th and 16th, around two seconds off the pace.

The team had warned that this weekend would start from a low base. “We tested there in 2023, during the early stages of the A424’s development, and have not returned since,” team principal Philippe Sinault said in Alpine’s preview. “We will therefore need to reacquaint ourselves with the circuit and quickly establish a competitive baseline.”

Preparation was short as well. After Fuji the freight reached Liège late, and Sinault said the team had “just forty-eight hours to prepare the cars before they leave for Barcelona.”

Our read

Practice order says little about race pace, and nobody shows their full hand on a Friday. Still, two things stand out. The front is tight enough that qualifying could go any of five or six ways, and the two Toyotas never got near the top. With 89 points to the #7’s 79 and Monza still to come, the #8 crew does not need pole on Saturday. A clean six hours on Sunday matters more than any lap on Friday.

Hyperpole on Saturday at 16:00 CEST, the race on Sunday at 12:00

Saturday starts with LMGT3 third practice at 08:50 CEST (02:50 ET). LMGT3 qualifying follows at 11:50 (05:50 ET) and its Hyperpole at 12:10 (06:10 ET). The Hypercars have their final practice from 12:40 to 13:40, then qualifying at 15:40 (09:40 ET) and Hyperpole at 16:00 (10:00 ET). The 6 Hours of Barcelona starts on Sunday at 12:00 CEST, 11:00 UK and 06:00 ET. Barcelona runs on CEST, so local time and CEST are the same.

Read more: Rick Kiewiet’s preview of the 6 Hours of Barcelona and the FIA WEC standings 2026.

Sources: FIA WEC classifications for Free Practice 1 (final) and Free Practice 2 (final) and lap analysis, published by Al Kamel Systems; FIA WEC FP1 report; FIA WEC standings after Fuji; Alpine preview, 6 October.

More on the FIA WEC: WEC 2026 hub, every 2026 race result, championship standings, the Hypercar class explained and how Hyperpole works.

Who leaves Barcelona with the Hypercar title lead on Sunday evening, the #8 Toyota or one of its chasers? Tell us in the comments.