Ferrari emerged from Friday practice for the 6 Hours of Barcelona with encouraging race pace in both Hypercar and LMGT3, but the competitive picture established in FP2 could be completely rewritten by the weather. With heavy rain expected for Sunday’s race, the dry-running data gathered by Ferrari, Toyota and their rivals may prove far less decisive than it initially appears.
The opening free-practice sessions produced several particularly interesting strategic clues. In FP1 at the 6 Hours of Barcelona, Ferrari immediately moved to the front in both Hypercar and LMGT3, placing three of its 499Ps inside the top four overall positions in the premier class while the two Ferrari 296 Evo entries occupied the first two places in LMGT3.
Ferrari confirms strong pace in Barcelona FP2
FP2 provided a more meaningful indication of race pace, while the opening phase of the session also allowed teams to work on flying laps. Ferrari once again confirmed the strength of the 499P, with the #83 AF Corse car finishing extremely close to the top of the timesheets, only a few thousandths behind the surprisingly quick #7 Aston Martin and the #17 Genesis.
For the two factory Ferrari AF Corse cars, the #50 and #51, the search for outright single-lap performance was compromised by traffic and by a lap deletion for the #50 due to track limits. That meant the #50 did not record its best performance until its ninth lap.
One important detail must also be considered when assessing the times. Aston Martin’s fastest lap was set using four Soft-compound tyres, while most of the opposition completed the session predominantly on the Medium compound. The difference in tyre programmes makes a direct comparison of the headline lap times less straightforward.
Ferrari versus Toyota in the Barcelona long runs
From the perspective of tyre management and sustained race pace, Ferrari and Toyota adopted almost completely opposite approaches during FP2.
Toyota began the session with extremely long stints on heavily used tyres, going beyond the 60-lap mark before changing them. Ferrari, by contrast, initially sent its cars out on fresher rubber and immediately produced a relentless rhythm, with consistent improvements and lap times in the 1:34 range.
Toyota was understandably slower during this phase because of the age and wear of its tyres, circulating mainly in the 1:36 to 1:37 range. The comparison therefore reflected two very different stages of tyre life rather than a simple like-for-like performance difference. Tyre management has already been one of the key technical themes surrounding the Ferrari 499P during the 2026 WEC season.
By the closing stages of FP2, the situation had effectively reversed. Toyota fitted newer tyres and began to close the race-pace gap, while Ferrari completed its simulation on used rubber and concentrated on managing degradation.
The final calculated averages nevertheless underline just how closely matched the two manufacturers were. The #8 and #7 Toyotas ended FP2 with average lap times of 1:35.812 and 1:35.884 respectively. The #83 Ferrari averaged 1:35.675, the #51 Ferrari recorded 1:35.566, while the #50 finished with an average of 1:35.883.
Those figures leave very little between Ferrari and Toyota once the different programmes are considered, reinforcing the impression that tyre life and stint management could be more important than outright speed over the full six-hour distance.
BMW and the other Hypercar contenders
BMW, regarded as one of the championship contenders heading into the weekend, appears to be slightly further behind after both FP1 and FP2. The M Hybrid V8s did not yet show the same consistency on long runs as Ferrari and Toyota, with the #20 averaging 1:35.808 and the #15 recording 1:36.060.
Further back and through the middle of the Hypercar field, Cadillac and Genesis produced some particularly quick average figures over short-to-medium runs. The #38 and #12 Cadillac entries recorded averages of 1:35.215 and 1:35.529 respectively, while the #17 Genesis Magma Racing car posted a 1:35.325.
Those cars made particularly effective use of the opening laps of their stints. Their main question will be how tyre degradation develops over longer runs, especially when attempting double stints on worn rubber.
Alpine remained relatively close on the timing sheets, with the #36 averaging approximately 1:35.685 and the #35 recording 1:36.071. The overall impression, however, was that they remained some distance from Ferrari and Toyota in terms of consistency.
Peugeot completed the Hypercar group with the slowest average race-pace figures of the session: 1:36.127 for the #94 and 1:36.142 for the #93.
Barcelona weather could reset the competitive order
All of the figures collected on Friday in Barcelona must be treated with considerable caution. The weather forecast points towards a significant deterioration between Saturday and Sunday, with heavy rain expected throughout the race.
Such a dramatic change in conditions could effectively wipe out much of what the teams learned about dry-weather tyre degradation and set-up during FP2. It would also create the possibility of unexpected results, major changes in the competitive order and a race filled with strategic uncertainty for the engineers on the pit wall.
Barcelona is already a crucial stage of Ferrari’s season, and the importance of the weekend has increased following the changes to the revised 2026 WEC calendar. If the rain arrives as expected, however, Friday’s dry-running hierarchy may offer only limited guidance for the race itself.
Ferrari sets the benchmark in LMGT3 race pace
Ferrari also confirmed its strength in the GT category. The Maranello manufacturer was competitive not only in terms of outright performance, where McLaren, Lexus and Mercedes also produced strong qualifying-style laps, but especially in the race simulations.
The #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 led the average race-pace classification with a 1:44.842. It was followed extremely closely by Team WRT’s #32 BMW M4 LMGT3 on 1:44.861 and Garage 59’s #10 McLaren on 1:44.882.
The #34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette and Manthey’s #92 and #91 Porsche 911 GT3 Rs were also tightly grouped, all running within only a few tenths around the 1:44.9 to 1:45.0 range.
Ferrari’s performance continues the competitive form already demonstrated by Vista AF Corse in LMGT3 this season, including its LMGT3 victory at the 2026 6 Hours of Spa.
The Aston Martin Vantage entries, #27 and #23, and the Akkodis ASP Team Lexus cars were further behind on sustained race pace. Although they showed strong peaks over a single lap — including the #78 Lexus time of 1:41.994 — they suffered more pronounced degradation over the long runs, pushing them towards the lower end of the average-pace classification.
FP3 could provide a different picture
Attention now turns to FP3, when different track temperatures and changing weather conditions could produce another shift in the competitive picture. Friday suggested that Ferrari is in a strong position in both Hypercar and LMGT3, particularly over longer runs, but the combination of different tyre programmes and the expected rain means there is still considerable uncertainty before the 6 Hours of Barcelona begins.
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