ELMS: IDEC Sport and G-Drive set the pace in a warm and sunny Barcelona

G-Drive Racing in the afternoon and IDEC Sport in the evening/night session set the pace in Barcelona on Friday at the Circuit de Catalunya. Clouds and sunshine in Barcelona this afternoon, with temperatures reaching close to 30° all day while it never really cooled down and the evening session was driven under a very pleasant 24°.  

A lap of 1.34.242 early in the afternoon session was enough for Jean-Eric Vergne to claim the top spot in his #26 Aurus 01. Nico Lapierre in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 was second fastest, just 0.15 seconds behind the double Formula E champion.  Anders Fjordbach really starts to feel at home now in the Oreca 07, setting the third-fastest time of the session in 1.34.456, just 2 tenths of a second shy of Vergne.

Rounding out the top 5 were Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed (1.34.729) and Ben Barnicoat in the #45 Carlin Dallara (1.34.860), the first non-Oreca on the timetable.  Alex Brundle followed in the #32 United Autosports Ligier in sixth position.  The first nine cars finished within a second this afternoon. 

In LMP3 it was Mikkel Jensen who set the pace again after winning the Monza round, with a time of 1.41.486 in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier JSP3.  Damiano Fioravanti set the #10 Oregon Team Norma M30 on second place, just over 1.2 seconds slower than Jensen.  Third fastest was another Norma; the #17 Ultimate of Matthieu Lahaye (1.42.882). Ross Kaiser in the #5 360 Racing and Nigel Moore in the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier completed the top 5. 

Ferrari took control of the LMGTE class with the #60 Kessel Racing F488 on top, driven by Andrea Piccini (1.44.721).  WEC GTE Am champion Jörg Bergmeister put the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche on second place, just over half a second slower than Piccini.  In third spot was the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Matteo Cairoli (1.45.315), followed by the Ferrari’s of Luzich Racing (#51) and JMW (#66). 

The session was red-flagged 2 times: early in the session due to debris on track and right before the end when Ben Hanley got off track in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca 07.  3 cars didn’t make it out for the first practice session: both United Autosports LMP3’s and the #7 Nielsen Racing LMP3. 

The second session of the day started right after sunset and saw the cars driving into the darkness.  A first for the European Le Mans Series, but very well received by teams, drivers and media. 

Paul Loup Chatin in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca set the pace last night with a laptime of 1.34.359, which was only 0.117 of a second slower than Vergne’s quickest lap in the afternoon. Ben Hanley in the #21 Dragonspeed was second fastest in 1.35.018, followed by Arjun Maini in the #43 RLR Msport. 

Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosport Ligier was the first non-Oreca driver in fourth place, 1.377 seconds behind the leader. Ben Barnicoat was fastest again in the Carlin Dallara, putting him on sixth place by the end of the session. 

Norma was quickest in LMP3 with Yann Ehrlacher on top in his #19 M Racing M30, with a laptime of 1.43.331. Mikkel Jensen followed in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier, just under half a second behind the Frenchman. Wayne Boyd in the #2 United Autosports Ligier went third fastest in 1.43.888, followed by the #17 Ultimate Norma. 

The #10 Team Oregon Norma must have hit trouble somewhere as it only managed 4 laps with Damiano Fioravanti at the wheel. 

Matt Griffin was very quick in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, 1.45.421 his best time, right in the mix with the fastest LMP3 drivers. Nicklas Nielsen in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari F488 was a close second, only 0.079 seconds behind Griffin.  Michelle Gatting was a strong third in the # 83 Kessel Racing Ferrari 1:45.916. Matteo Cairoli was (once again) the fastest Porsche driver in fourth position. 

Qualifying is set for 10h40 Saturday morning, the start of the race into dusk will be given at 18h30. 

Results FP1

Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen. 

Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen

ELMS: G-Drive quickest on the first day in Monza

Sunshine this morning in Monza, when the first practice session for the 4 Hour race later this weekend got underway.  A few incidents were to be noted in the first 90 minute session of the weekend, all without major damage. 3 Full course yellows had to be brought out when the Highclass Oreca and Cetilar Dallara stopped out on track, and the 360 Racing Ligier lost a wheel.  The session was red flagged just before the end when the #35 BHK Motorsport and the #26 G-Drive of Job Van Uitert collided and had to be recovered.  Damiano Fioravanti in the #10 Oregon Team Norma set a new track record in the LMP3 class. 

LMP2

Norman Nato set the pace this morning with the #26 G-Drive Aurus 01 in 1.36.243, an average speed of 216,7 km/h around the 5.793 meter long track in Monza. Nato beat Paul Loup Chatin in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca with 0.276 seconds.  Nico Lapierre made it an all French and Oreca top three in his #37 Cool Racing Oreca, going round in 1.36.884.  

Quickest of the non Oreca cars was Ben Barnicoat in the #45 Carlin Dallara P217, just under a second slower than the leading Aurus 01 (1.37.156).  No real surprise there as the high speed Monza track suits the Dallara’s very well, as the Norma’s in LMP3.  Barnicoat was followed by 2 more Oreca’s; the #21 Dragonspeed of Renger Van Der Zande and the #30 Duqueine Engineering driven by Nicolas Jamin.  Alex Brundle was the fastest Ligier driver, putting his #32 United Autosports on seventh place in 1.37.173.  

The #47 Cetilar Racing Dallara, which makes its sole appearance in the ELMS the season before moving over to the FIA WEC, finished 14th fastest, it’s quickest lap set by Andrea Belicchi.  Belicchi did the most laps in the session, setting up the car for the rest of the weekend, Roberto Lacorte only managing 3 laps this morning, and Giorgio Sernagiotto not completing one single lap in the Dallara. 

In the aftermath of the collision between BHK and G-Drive, Francesco Dracone saw his laptimes from this morning's session cancelled by the race stewards and got a through penalty which has been suspended until a similar infringement.  

LMP3

As expected on the high speed Monza track, the Norma’s dominated the morning session, taking up the first 4 spots after 90 minutes of practice. Damiano Fioravanti - who was quickest all weekend at Le Castellet - put his #10 Oregon Team Norma M30 on top again with a time of 1.44.908, a new lap record in the LMP3 class.  Colin Noble followed swiftly in the #7 Nielsen Racing, only 0.080 seconds slower than the Italian.  Rounding out the top thee was Swiss driver Lucas Legeret in the #19 M.Racing, 0.134 seconds behind the leading car.  

David Droux in the #9 Realteam Racing completed Norma’s top 4 sweep, just under half a second slower than Fioravanti. Mikkel Jensen was the best of the Ligier drivers, finishing fifth fastest in the #11 Eurointernational, followed by the #17 Ultimate Norma of Matthieu Lahaye. 

LMGTE

Jörg Bergmeister set the pace in the LMGTE class, with a 1.48.075 in the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche.  Matteo Cressoni in the #66 JMW Ferrari was second quickest (1.48.290), just ahead of Matteo Cairoli in the single Dempsey Proton Porsche which will be on the grid this weekend.  Rounding out the top 5 were Andrea Piccini in the #60 Kessel Racing Ferrari and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari who carries 30kg of succes ballast with him. 

BRONZE DRIVER TEST

In the bronze driver session this afternoon it was Alexander Coigny in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca who was fastest in 1.38.630.  Henrik Hedman in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca (1.38.836) and John Farano in the #43 RLR Sport (1.39.813) completed the top 3.  Roberto Lacorte in the #47 Cetilar Dallara was the quickest non Oreca in fourth place, Erik Maris in the #27 IDEC Sport the fastest Ligier in 8th position. 

Oregon Team topped the LMP3 time sheets again, now with Lorenzo Bontempelli behind the wheel, with a personal best of 1.46.963. Another Norma was second fastest: the #17 Ultimate of François Heriau (1.48.103), followed by Jens Petersen in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier.  James Dayson (360 Racing) and Anthony Wells (Nielsen Racing) completed the top 5. 

Egidio Perfetti was the fastest bronze driver in GTE, putting his #56 Team Project 1 on top (1.49.119).  Fabien Lavergne followed close in the #51 Luzich Racing Ferrari (+ 0.080 seconds), with the #60 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Sergio Pianezzola behind him. 

On track action for the 4 Hours of Monza will resume tomorrow morning at 09.00h for the second practice session.  Qualifying will be run from 13.40h onwards. 

Free Practice 1 results
Bronze driver test results


Kristof Vermeulen.

FIA WEC: Rain and sunshine on day 1 at Spa-Francorchamps

Spa-Francorchamps showed a few of its many faces yesterday during both 90 minute practice sessions for the 6 Hour race on Saturday. While the first practice session around noon managed to stay dry and was run in rather sunny and enjoyable conditions, the afternoon session was just the opposite. 

Rain started to come down just before the start of the session, and never really stopped falling down.  Conditions improved a little bit just over mid session, only to get worse again by the end of the session when the rain was really pouring down. SMP Racing dominated the dry morning session, but when the rain started to fall down in the afternoon it was business as usual with both Toyota’s on top of the timesheets.

The tricky conditions in the afternoon brought out a few red flags, SMP Racing the most unlucky team when Stephane Sarrazin lost control of his BR1 in Blanchimont and went hard into the barriers.  The car was brought back to the pits with what looked like some expensive damage both at the front and the back.
 

Sergey Sirotkin was the fastest in the dry and sunny midday session yesterday, setting the pace in the #17 SMP Racing BR1 with a best time of 1.56.264.  Sirotkin was just under 2 seconds faster than sportscar debutant and home driver Stoffel Vandoorne who had a quickest laptime of 1.58.236, putting both SMP Racing cars on top of the timesheets for the first time.  Both Toyota’s followed about half a second behind the SMP’s, with Sebastien Buemi in the #8 TS050 slightly quicker than Mike Conway in the #8.

Gustavo Menezes was the fastest Rebellion driver in 1.59.106.  The Bykolles Enso CLMP1/01 ran for the first time with its new Gibson engine, but was 7 seconds off the pace, with only Oliver Webb and Tom Dillman running in the first session of the day.

© Erik Junius - http://motorsport.image-ine.net/

It’s the first time the non hybrid LMP’s are allowed to race without any fuel restrictions per lap, and Sirotkin managed a lap time which was only 0.1 seconds slower than Toyota’s fastest time in last year’s free practice sessions. Qualifying times dropped significantly last year, but the SMP pace of yesterday morning gives a nice idea about the raw speed that is inside those privateer prototypes. 

Nico Lapierre was once again the fastest man in the LMP2 class, leading the way in his #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut in 2.03.441.  Jean Eric Vergne followed close in the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01, 0.236 seconds behind Lapierre. Giedo van der Garde was quick in the Racing Team Nederland Dallara, setting the third fastest time, 0.9 seconds off the Alpine’s pace.  Pastor Maldonado in the #31 Dragonspeed Oreca and Gabriel Aubry in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca completed the top five.

GTE Pro couldn’t be any closer between the two leading cars. Maxime Martin in the #97 Aston Martin and Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT setting exactly the same time of 2.15.290; not even a thousand of a second difference between both cars. Antonio Felix Da Costa was thid quickest in the #82 BMW M8 at 0.116 seconds. The 66 Ford GT of Olivier Pla and Nicki Thiim in the first Aston Martin both followed within a second of the leading Aston and Ford. Both Ferrari’s were at the back of the LMGTE Pro pack yesterday morning, although only 1.2 and 1.4 seconds slower than both leaders.

GTE Am was a close one too, with the first six cars within 0.9 seconds from each other.  Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche lead the dance in 2.17.068, just 0.070 seconds ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Matt Campbell in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche, Charlie Eastwood in the TF Sport Aston Martin and Jörg Bergmeister in the Project 1 Porsche (please bring your ELMS livery to the WEC), rounded out the top 5 in class. 

Fernando Alonso was outright fastest in the afternoon session; his best time of 2.19.483 was over 1.3 seconds quicker than Mike Conway in the second Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Vitaly Petrov in the #11 SMP Racing BR1 set the third quickest time (2.21.429), followed by Neil Jani in the #1 Rebellion R13.

In LMP2 Pastor Maldonado set a dominant pace of 2.27.682 in the #31 Dragonspeed Oreca.  The former F1 driver was 1.6 seconds faster than Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca and 1.7 seconds than Gabriel Aubry in the #38 Jackie Chan. Nicolas Boulle spun in the #50 Larbre Competition at La Source mid-session, without any damage to the car. 

The Aston Martins stayed quick in the Ardennes, Marco Sorensen now quickest in the #95 AMR Vantage in 2.32.648, just 0.025 seconds ahead of Gimmi Bruni in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR. Alexander Lynn put the second Aston Martin on third place, followed by Sam Bird in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.

Porsche stayed on top in the GTE Am class, this time with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing 911 of Matt Campbell who put himself right inbetween the Pro drivers with a laptime of 2.34.093. Oliver Beretta in the #70 MR Racing Ferrari and Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche completed the top 3 for the afternoon session. 

Results FP1
Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen.
Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen, Erik Junius and JellyBaby.Media

ELMS: Duqueine Engineering on pole for a thrilling season finale in Portimao.

Nicolas Jamin claimed pole position this afternoon in a sunny but rather windy Portimao.  The Frenchman set his best laptime of 1.33.197 in the dying seconds of the session, giving Duqueine Engineering their first pole position in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series.  Will Stevens looked to have set the fastest lap in the #23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier when the chequered flag fell, but ultimately came 0.060 seconds short. 

Filipe Albuquerque will start from the second row tomorrow with the third fastest time, 1.33.362 in the #22 United Autosports Ligier.  He will have Paul Loup Chatin next to him in the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca who was quickest in this morning’s practice session.  2018 champions G-Drive Racing will start from fifth place. 

© ELMS/Jakob Ebrey Photorgaphy

Lucas Légeret scored his first pole position in the European Le Mans Series and the second this season for the #19 Norma of M.Racing - YMR.  In another nailbiting session, Légeret’s time of 1.40.715 was just 0.061 seconds quicker than Mathieu Lahaye in the #17 Ultimate Norma.  Légeret set his time just before the #11 Eurointernational of Giorgio Mondini spun off at turn 5, causing a red flag. When the session was restarted, the top times weren’t improved anymore. 

Mikkel Jensen was the quickest of the Ligiers in third place in 1.40.999, almost 0.3 seconds behind pole position. Jensen will have another Norma next to him on the second row of the grid with the #8 of DKR Engineering of Marvin Klein.  All three contenders for the championship struggled for pace this afternoon.  Job Van Uitert in the leading RLR MSport Ligier didn’t get further than 7th place on the grid, almost a second off the pace of Légeret. Their main rivals in the #6 360 Racing Ligier and #3 United Autosport will start even further down the order, on 10th and 15th place. The race to the championship will be very tight and interesting tomorrow.

JMW Motorsport edges one point closer to the leading #88 Proton Porsche in the championship by claiming their second pole position of the season.  Miguel Molina put the #66 Ferrari on the top spot with a laptime of 1.42.765 and closed the gap to the leading Porsche down to 10,5 points.  Dennis Olsen in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche pipped Matteo Cairoli from a front row start with 0.026 seconds.  His time of 1.43.073 was just over three tenths of a second slower than Molina. Matt Griffin in the #55 Ferrari will start from fourth tomorrow.  As in the LMP3 class, anything is possible in the race tomorrow … 

Qualifying Results LMP2
Qualifying Results LMP3
Qualifying Results LMGTE

Free Practice 2

This morning in the second free practice session, Paul Loup Chatin set the pace in his #28 IDEC Sport Oreca 07.  His laptime of 1.33.097 was 0.227 seconds faster than Nico Lapierre in the #21 Dragonspeed. Another Oreca completed the morning session’s top 3, Jean-Eric Vergne setting the third quickest time in 1.33.614. 

Behind the 3 leading Oreca’s were 4 Ligiers, lead by local driver Filipe Albuqerque in the #22 United Autosports. Will Stevens in the #23 Panis Barthez Competition JSP2 and Will Owen in the second United Autosports LMP2 rounded out the top 6.  The leading Dallara was the #49 High Class Racing of Anders Fjordbach in ninth place. 

Lucas Légeret headed the LMP3 category in his #19 M.Racing-YMR Norma.  The Swiss driver posting a laptime of 1.40.145, holding off Mikkel Jensen in the #9 AT Racing Ligier with just over 0.4 seconds.  Third fastest was Giorgio Mondini in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier. 

In LMGTE it was Porsche - Ferrari - Porsche this morning. Matteo Cairoli quickest in his #88 Proton 911 RSR (1.41.786) ahead of Miguel Molina in the #66 JMW Ferrari and Riccardo Pera in the #80 Ebimotors Porsche.  

Apart from 2 short full course yellows - one early in the session when the #18 M.Racing - YMR Ligier went off in turn 3 and a second one mid session after the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse ended up next to the track.  

The 4 Hours of Portimao will be green flagged tomorrow at 12h30 local time. 

FP2 Results

Kristof Vermeulen

Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen & Jellybaby.Media

ELMS: Duqueine Engineering sets the pace in opening practice session

Not exactly the weather we expected in the Algarve this morning with (heavy) overcast skies and rain treathening to fall down.  It did stay dry though during the first 90 minute practice session which ran without any notable incidents. 

Pierre Ragues in the #29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca set the fastest time this morning during the first free practice session for the 4 Hours of Portimao.  The Frenchman managed a best time of 1.32.846, just 74 thousands of a second faster than Filipe Albuquerque in the #32 United Autosports Ligier JSP2. Will Owen in the second United Autosports (#32) clocked the third fastest time. 

Felipe Nasr in the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara was fourth fastest, 0.6 seconds behind the leading Oreca.  Another Dallara rounded out the top 5 with Henrique Chaves in the #30 AVF by Andrian Valles.  LMP2 champions G-Drive Racing had a quiet morning session, only managing tenth fastest after 90 minutes. 

In LMP3 it was Matthieu Lahaye who put the #17 Ultimate Norma on top of the timesheet with a laptime of 1.40.097. Nicolas Maulini in the #8 DKR Norma was second fastest, 0.290 seconds slower than the Frenchman.  Championship leaders RLR Sport took third place with Job Van Uitert’s best time of 1.40.427.  Another Norma was fourth quickest with Swiss youngster Lucas Légeret at the wheel of the #19 M.Racing-YMR, ahead of Matt Bell in the #3 United Autosports Ligier.  The #11 Eurointernational of Giorgio Mondini and Kay Van Berlo didn’t set a time during this morning’s session. 

Proton Competition dominated the LMGTE class, with Marvin Dienst in the #77 Porsche 911 RSR (1.43.301) ahead of Giorgio Roda in the #88 sister car with a margin of just over 0.4 seconds.  Championship challengers JMW Motorsport were third quickest, Miguel Molina giving in just 0.1 seconds to Roda. 

Bronze driver test

With (heavy) rain and thunderstorms coming in by the end of the Michelin Le Mans Cup practice early in the afternoon, the bronze driver test was driven in wet conditions and a tricky track.  

Only 11 cars turned a few laps round the soaked track, just 9 LMP3 and 2 LMGTE cars, as non of the LMP2 cars made their way out of the pitlane.  Quickest overall was Alexey Chulkin in the #5 NEFIS by Speed Factory Ligier in 1.53.434, just under 0.7 seconds faster than Kay Van Berlo in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier.  Jacopo Baratto in the #16 BHK Motorsport completed the top 3 in its class.  Just 2 Porsches went for a swim in LMGTE, Gianluca Roda the fastest in his #77 Proton Competition 911 RSR (1.57.985), almost a second faster than Gianluca Giraudi in the #80 Ebimotors.  Ironically, when all track action was over this afternoon, the sun broke back through the clouds … 

The second free practice session is scheduled for tomorrow at 09h25. Qualifying for the 4 hours of Portimao starts tomorrow afternoon 14h25 with the LMGTE cars on track first.

Results FP1

Kristof Vermeulen. 

ELMS: Nato fastest in the first wet practice at Spa-Francorchamps.

It would’t be Spa if the weather gets unpredictable … setup day on Thursday was warm and sunny with the same forecast for the weekend, today’s first practice session was wet, if not very wet at times. 

Tricky conditions on track caused several drivers to go off track, and an early full course yellow.  In the final 30 minutes the session was red flagged when 3 incidents occurred at the same time.  Thanks to very efficient work of the Belgian Marshalls, the track was freed up quickly so the session could restart for the final 15 minutes. 

© Bob Ten Kley

Norman Nato in the #24 Racing Engineering Oreca set the quickest time in the damp Ardennes.  His laptime of 2.19.745 with an average speed of 180,4 km/h was just under a second faster than Gustavo Menezes in the #31 APR-Rebellion Racing Oreca 07. Another clean sweep for Toyota this afternoon with the #21 Dragonspeed of Nico Lapierre in third position (2.21.224). Quickest of the non-Oreca’s was Konstantin Tereschenko in the #30 AVF by Adrian Vallés Dallara in fourth place.  Wayne Boyde in the #32 United Autosport Ligier completed the top 5. 

© Bob Ten Kley

In LMP3 it was Antonin Borga in the #4 Cool Racing Ligier who took the honours in 2.34.085, half a second quicker than Jakub Smiechowski in the #13 Inter Europol. Yann Clairay in the #9 AT Racing completed the top 3 in the class. The Ligiers took the top 7 spots in the session with the Norma’s on place 8 to 10.  David Droux was the fastest Norma driver in the #19 M.Racing-YMR with a best time of 2.35.986.

© Bob Ten Kley

Matteo Cairoli was unstoppable again in the LMGTE class, completing a lap in 2.31.555, beating not only all other LMGTE runners but also the whole LMP3 field with his #88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR. Impressive stuff from the young Italian. Christian Ried in the #77 Proton sister car was second fastest, 1.369 seconds slower than Cairoli. Fabio Babini completed a Porsche top 3 in the #80 Ebimotors.  Duncan Cameron was the quickest of the non-Porsche drivers in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. 

There’s a few last minute driver changes that are to be noted in the LMP2 class. Sean Rayhall couldn’t make the flight over to Belgium this weekend due to illness and will be replaced by Scott Andrews in the #2 United Autosports Ligier. In the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier, Ate Dirk De Jong is being replaced by Matt McMurry who returns to the team for the first time this season. 

© Bob Ten Kley

Roberto Lacorte set the fastest time in the bronze driver collective test.  Weather conditions changed late afternoon, with a dry track and even a hint of sunshine … welcome to Spa-Francorchamps !  His time of 2.06.565 in the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara was over 2 seconds faster than Dennis Andersen in the #49 High Class Racing.  Third quickest in was Henrik Hedman in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca, with a time of 2.08.713, only 6 thousands of a second short from Andersen. 

In the LMP3 class, it was Kay Van Berlo who set the best time in 2.16.351 with his #11 Eurointernational Ligier. Alexey Chulkin in the #5 NEFIS by Speedfactory (2.16.593) and Anthony Wells in the #3 United Autosports Ligier (2.17.063) completed the top 3.  Romani Ricci in the #19 M.Racing-YMR was the quickest of the Norma drivers. 

The #88 Proton Competition was fastest again in the LMGTE class, this time with Gianluca Roda at the wheel in 2.19.023. Christian Ried put the second Proton Porsche on second place, just under 1.4 seconds after the Italian. Bret Curtis in the #86 Ebimotors completed the Porsche top 3. 

The second practice session is bound to go green Saturday morning at 9h05, qualifying starts at 13h10 with the LMGTE class to open the debates.

Results FP1
Results Bronze driver test

Kristof Vermeulen

Pictures: Bob Ten Kley.   

IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring: Penske Acura fastest in first two practice sessions

Action started today for the 66th annual 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida.  43 cars went out for today's first two practice sessions under sunny skies, but with bitter cold temperatures in the morning.

The #7 Penske Acura DPI's was fastest overall so far, Helio Castrovenes topping the timetables in the first session, Ricky Taylor in the second session.  The Joest Mazda seem to like the track at Sebring better than Daytona in January, setting second and fourth best times in the second session of the day.

In GTLM its's Ford vs Ferrari so far, the Risi Ferrari sandwiched inbetween both Fords today. The #66 Ford set the fastest time in the first session, #67 in the afternoon.  The #93 Michael Shank Acura set the quickest time in GTD during the morning session, in the afternoon it was the #15 3GT Racing Lexus who was fastest.

The second session was red flagged early when Justin Marks went hard into the tyre wall at turn 13, even moving the concrete wall a few foot behind.  Marks got out of his #93 Michael Shank Acura but with heavy damage to the car it's unsure whether they will be able to participate in the night practice session.