With seven hours to go in the 2018 FIA WEC Prologue test, the overnight running for 15 of the 35 cars is complete.

Toyota’s #8 (high downforce spec) TS050 HYBRID which didn’t take part in the overnight segment, is still atop the times, Mike Conway’s lap before the night running (1:32.662) untouched by the sister car, which has now completed 628 total laps of the Paul Ricard circuit in its endurance run.

The gap to the privateers, which was over five seconds before the night session began is now down to 4.3 seconds, the #11 SMP Racing BR1 AER still quickest after improvements, thanks to a 1:37.034 by Vitaly Petrov. The car has now completed 135 laps.

The sister car, which was fourth after eight hours has now been pushed down to fifth in the times after multiple improvements from the privateers. The #1 Rebellion R-13 has now moved into fourth, splitting the two SMP cars, Andre Lotterer managing a 1:37.044, and a total of 142 laps.

ByKolles’ CLM also ran overnight, the car briefly slotting in third behind the Toyotas before SMP and Rebellion’s cars made further improvements, as did the #10 DragonSpeed BR1 and #5 CEFC TRSM Racing Ginetta – which is now up to ninth (and ahead of all the LMP2s) after completing 46 laps.

The #5 though, didn’t run trouble free in let’s not forget was its on-track debut. It suffered new car niggles before the team packed up overnight. But since then it’s run steadily after re-joining the action at 7am.

GTE Pro saw few changes to the order, the #91 Porsche still leading the class on pace, but more milage for the cars. The #95 Aston Martin has completed a total of 643 laps, the #82 BMW M8 GTE close behind on the mileage front, with 549 laps completed.

The aforementioned #7 Toyota, #82 BMW and #95 Aston Martins are the only three cars that ran non-stop, while many of the others stopped in the middle of the night, before rejoining the action again at 7am.

In the Ferrari camp however, there were significant issues. Both cars have been suffering excessive tyre wear on the brand new surface at Ricard, making it very clear that major milage was not planned though. The team completed a major endurance test at Vallelunga prior to coming to France.

That said, the #51 car will not return to the track on Saturday, after a re-fuelling fire at 5pm yesterday damaged some electrical components. The team is using the car for pit-stop and re-fuelling practice, but is investigating the cause of the fire, an issue that has occurred before for the team. DSC expects a bulletin from Ferrari soon.

In GTE Am, only a handful of cars ran in the darkness, the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche now topping the class, with Matt Campbell setting its improved lap of 1:53.515.

Jorg Bergmeister meanwhile, put the Team Project 1 Porsche second with a 1:53.632, the team running fast, and putting the most milage on its car to this point; its 911 RSR completing 227 tours of the circuit before 9am.

None of the LMP2 cars lapped at night.

The running will now continue until 16:00 local time

NIGHT SESSION TIMES >>