Right up until the final lap of free practice it looked as if Porsche were well in control with their three 919's neatly lined up in 1st/2nd/3rd. But Audi didn't like the look of that so sent André Lotterer out in the #7 Audi. We imagine his task was to put Porsche's noses out of joint and he succeeded! OK he was quickest but it wasn't by much, just 0.011sec but enough..Next up came the three Porsches who seemed to have had the edge during this session... 5th was Audi #8 with Di Grassi at the helm. Maybe the Toyotas were running in 'race trim' but they were 6th and 7th ahead of the #8 Audi. The 'petrol' LMP1 CLMP1/01 was way off the pace languishing in 14th place. In LMP2 G-Drive and their #26 Ligier JS P2 Nissan were ahead of the KCMG #47 Oreca 05 Nissan and the #38 Jota Sport Gibson 015S Nissan.
Ferrari might just have the edge here in LM GTE Pro with the 458 Italia. AF Corse took 1st and 3rd sandwiching in the #99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8. Porsche might be disappointed with 25th and 27th behind a hefty chunk of Aston Martins!
LM GTE Am Aston Martin lead in their #98 car ahead of the #50 Labre Corvette.. They even squeezed out on of the Manthey Porsches. The #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche was 3rd ahead of the SMP Racing #72 Ferrari.
However the fun stops when we get to qualifying in a couple of hours time and only then will we see who was 'sandbagging' and bluffing..
