United Autosports topped the second free practice session for the European Le Mans Series runners at Silverstone.

Filipe Albuquerque set a 1:43.175 in the middle of the session in the brand new #22 United Autosports ORECA (which hadn’t turned a wheel in anger until this morning). That time would not be bested.

DragonSpeed’s #21 ORECA came closest, with a 1:43.365 for Ben Hanley, who is doing double-duty this weekend, racing in the FIA WEC with Team LNT in LMP1.

The third fastest LMP2, the #26 G-Drive Aurus 01, set its quickest time with Jean-Eric Vergne at the wheel in the second hour; a 1:43.496. Shortly thereafter, he handed the car over to Roman Rusinov. Moments later, yellow flags waved at Club Corner, and it transpired that this was down to the Aurus, which had stopped courtesy of a puncture, before limping to the FIA WEC pit lane (which was closer than the ELMS pits).

Fourth place went the way of the #28 IDEC Sport ORECA, while the similar #25 Algarve Pro Racing entry rounded out the class top five.

Due to the potentially weekend-ending shunt for Carlin’s lone Dallara in the first practice session, Ligier was the only other LMP2 chassis manufacturer represented in the LMP2 ranks; the fastest of the JS P217s was the #32 United Autosports entry, piloted by Alex Brundle.

In LMP3, the championship-leading #11 Eurointernational Ligier set the pace; a 1:54.611 proved quick enough to lead the standings by over six-tenths of a second over the #19 M Racing Norma M30.

Meanwhile, in GTE, the #88 Proton Competition Porsche was the fastest car in class courtesy of a 1:57.080, ahead of the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. The latter was one of several teams across the classes to get a track limits penalty, though the Ferrari outfit’s penalty was unique as it referred to a transgression from the first practice session.

Relative to the red flag-shortened FP1, the extended, two-hour second free practice session provided plenty of track time for the teams, though there were some Full Course Yellow interruptions. One such pause came courtesy of the #9 RealTeam Norma M30, which found itself stranded in the gravel on the exit of the first turn following a spin for David Droux in the second hour.

The ELMS teams will now look ahead to qualifying and the race tomorrow. Qualifying is set to begin at 10:55 local time, while the race is due to start at 14:30.

FREE PRACTICE 2 TIMES >>

Photo courtesy of ELMS