Alpine pacesetters in practice for WEC's 6 Hours of Spa

Alpine were looking strong at Spa on Thursday

Alpine set the pace on practice for the 2026 World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa, with both of its cars occupying the top two positions in Free Practice Two.

Ferrari were fastest in the opening practice session on Thursday, with the #50 Ferrari going fastest with a time of 2m02.955 seconds, but in the second session it was all about Alpine, with the #36 car setting the fastest time of the day with an effort of 2m01.816s.

The sister #35 car was just over two and a half tenths further back in second, while the #20 BMW rounded out the top three.

While Ferrari set the pace in the opening session, in FP2 the cars struggled to find any additional pace, ending the session sixth and 11th, while the #83 AF Corse car was ninth fastest.

Toyota meanwhile had a very quiet Thursday, having come into the weekend on the back of winning the opening race of the season. All eyes were on the Japanese manufacturer to see if it is able to maintain momentum after winning at Imola, but in practice neither car was able to get near the front of the pack.

At the end of FP2, the #7 car ended the session 10th fastest, while the #8 car could only manage 13th.

Aston Martin was a team that had found pace though. It was rooted at the back of the pack at Imola, but in Thursday’s practice session, the team was right on the pace from the off with the #009 car ending up second in FP1.

And in Thursday’s afternoon session, the car was still competitive as the times tumbled, with the #009 car ending up fourth and the #007 car finished up in eighth.

LMGT3 just as competitive

Imola showed that the LMGT3 class is going to be hotly contested in 2026, and it was no different in practice at Spa.

Racing Team Turkey was the pacesetter in FP1, but in the afternoon session it was the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin that set the pace with a best effort of 2m17.769s.

Racing Team Turkey was still at the front in FP2, ending up second, just two tenths off the pace, while the #79 Iron Lynx car rounded out the top three.

But such was the competitiveness, the top nine cars in the LMGT3 field were separated by less than a second, meaning its far too early to tell who is going to be in the hunt for victory on Sunday.

It wasn't all plain sailing for the teams though. In FP2 there were two red flags, the first due to gravel at the first corner, but the second was for the #78 Akkodis Lexus which lost a wheel after it wasn't fitted correctly before leaving the pits.