This was marginally faster than the previous best time from Hertz Team Jota’s Callum Ilott in Session 2 yesterday.

Ilott’s time was beaten twice in the final three-hour session. The first to better it was Makowiecki, before Alex Lynn made a late improvement to go just 54 thousandths slower than the Penske 963 in the sole Ganassi Cadillac. Interestingly, the V-Series.R ended the Prologue as the only car to sit in the top five in the times across the three sessions it took part in.

“On a whole, we’re pretty happy with how we’ve done in the Prologue,” Lynn said. “The car is working really well here in Qatar and I think in both (day and night) conditions we seem to be there.

“Obviously, there’s a big difference between night and day. But whatever the conditions we seem to be really strong. I think the car is in a really nice place at the moment. The car has had a great start to its life; Daytona in January was a strong showing as well. There is a bit more competition this year, but in general, we’re pretty happy and look forward to the race weekend.”

The sister Penske Porsche completed 58 laps and ended with a best time of 1m41.036s, despite an off for Kevin Estre who according to Jonathan Diuguid, the managing director of Team Penske, “slid through the gravel at Turn 15 after he got caught on a kerb.” The barrier impact caused minor front-end damage.

“To be honest we were struggling yesterday, it was quite a big recovery overnight,” continued Diuguid. “Matt (Campbell) didn’t get a ton of laps today, but it was pretty productive for both cars.”

The top eight times across the Prologue in Hypercar came from eight different cars and eight different drivers. Both Penske Porsche bookended that top eight with all three Ferraris, both JOTA Porsches and the Cadillac sitting in between. It’s been a challenging two days for Proton Competition’s 963, the team losing track time due to delays in car preparation. However, in the final session, after spending the first 50 minutes in the garage, the FATurbo Express-liveried machine found pace. Julien Andlauer set a 1m41.452s, which made him the 14th quickest driver across the Prologue. It was also good enough for ninth in the final session.

Of the brand-new cars to the WEC, BMW’s M Hybrid V8 was consistently fastest through the three sessions WRT took part in. The team’s best time after two days was a 1m41.661s from Marco Wittman in the final session, good enough to put the No. 15 10th in the session and 20th in the combined rankings.

For Alpine, following mechanical troubles (reported as an engine issue by Endurance Info) for the No. 35 A424 in Session 3, the team managed to complete 44 laps in Session 4 and set the team’s best time of the week so far, a 1m42.448s by Charlies Milesi.

In LMGT3, D’Station’s Aston Martin Vantage was fastest for the second consecutive session, with a 1m54.778s by Erwan Bastard. In what proved to be a highly productive Prologue for the Japanese team, all three D’Station drivers ended up in the top 13 of the combined rankings.

Bastard headlined a good day for the D’Station Aston Martin team in LMGT3. JEP/Motorsport Images

Heart of Racing was quick too and bettered that record across its three drivers, with Ian James setting a 1m54.587s, Daniel Mancinelli going 0.03s slower and Alex Riberas 0.2s off James’ best time.

All three of the No. 27 Aston drivers featured in the top 10. Therefore, all six Aston Martin drivers ended up in the top 13.

“The Prologue has been very productive for us,” said Ian James. “The car turned up in a very good window straight out of the box. This is a high grip track and very smooth which I think suits the Aston Martin.

“It looks like the cars are very even out there, and it looks like WEC has done an amazing job on the initial Balance of Performance (BoP). I’m super excited to go racing with it.”

The overall fastest time of the Prologue though, came from United Autosports’ No. 59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO. Gregoire Saucy’s 1m54.480s from Session 2 was not beaten today. The second United McLaren, the No. 95, had its top time set this morning by Marino Sato, who was half a second off Saucy’s best.

Also flying high across its driver squads were the two Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296s, with the pair’s Silver, Gold and Platinum all featuring in the top 17 across the test. This included a 1m54.542s from Davide Rigon in the second session, the second fastest time across the two days.

Amongst the other makes the fastest Lexus time came in the second session for Esteban Masson in the No. 87 AKKODIS ASP RC F GT3. Kelvin van der Linde in the sister car rounded out the top 10, also in the second session.

It was a productive two days for TF Sport and its brand-new Corvette Z06 LMGT3.Rs. Factory driver Daniel Juncadella went sixth fastest with a 1m46.691s in the combined rankings

The fastest Lamborghini is next up, Frank Perera in the No. 60 Huracan completing a 1m55.037s in the night running yesterday.

Rounding out the top 20 in the overall times per driver was the No. 31 Team WRT BMW in the hands of Augusto Farfus, a 1m55.404s. This was less than a tenth clear of Valentino Rossi in the sister car.

That leaves the best efforts of the two remaining LMGT3 marques, Porsche and Ford. The 911 LMGT3.R 992’s best time came in the final session, the No. 92 Pure Rxcing car in the hands of the team’s Bronze driver Alex Malykhin, who reeled off a 1m55.622s.

Proton’s LMGT3 Mustangs, like its Hypercar class Porsche, struggled to run consistently throughout, though in the final session, the cars completed 111 laps combined with a best time across the two days Mikkel Pedersen in the final session a 1m55.886s.

Each of the 28 cars eligible to run in the final session completed laps, with the Isotta, both JOTA Porsches, United McLarens, TF Sport Corvettes and Lamborghini Huracans sitting it out after taking part in Session 1.

Next up on the schedule for the WEC teams in Qatar is Free Practice 1 for the Qatar 1812 KM race on Thursday.