LMP1
The opening salvoes in the LMP1 session were all fired by Audi, Allan McNish duking it out with Marcel Fassler and both topping the times in turn.
The Toyota meanwhile was having an altogether quieter start to the day and the first 25 minutes saw just a handful of in/ out laps for the #8. Rebellion too had a steady start, Nick Heidfeld taking his time to escape the clutches of the snapping pack of LMP2s.
As the second hour of the session ticked round Davidson posted a 1:53.589, improving by a couple of tenths but still three full seconds off of both Audis. The Audis themselves were doing longer stints, consistently lapping in the 1:53s. After a brief stop Lotterer was down to the mid 1:52s for six laps straight before improving the fastest lap of the session to a 1:50.333.
Davidson, doing shorter stints than the Audis, continued to nibble away at the gap by improving to a 1:52.408. But that time was put into perspective by the number two car, with Kristensen at the wheel, posting four straight laps in the 1:51s.
After a brief red flag period the top three all went out with new drivers at the wheel. Treluyer heading out on a steady run in the number one car. Sarrazin in the Toyota appeared to be looking for and finding consistency by lapping in the 1:53s for the rest of the session. Loic Duval clearly had a different plan in the number 2 Audi. After a couple of sighter laps in the higher 1:50s he produced two quick laps. First of all he reduced the gap down to the number one car to 7 hundredths of a second with a 1:50.401. Next lap round however he became the first car to dip under the 1:50 mark with a 1:49.887, which would stand as the fastest time for the rest of the session.
LMP2
LMP2 was the usual close knit affair with Tom Kimber Smith in the Greaves Zytek Nissan, John Martin in the G-Drive Oreca Nissan, Martin Plowman in the #35 and David Heinemeier Hanssen in the #24 Morgan Nissans all appearing in the opening minutes in the top two or three cars in class.
There was no sign though of the #31 Lotus LMP2 T128, the team seemingly resting one car for the day and Kevin Weeda getting plenty of track time instead in the #32 car.
As the times came down the Morgans began to suffer with a lack of downforce against the competition, it was the dominant runner from Interlagos that finished on top at the session’s end, Mike Conway posting a 1:57.030, half a second up on the Pecom Oreca Nissan and a further tenth and a half away from the greaves Zytek Nissan
GTE PRO
In the GTE Pro stakes it was Aston Martin, then Porsche, then Aston Martin again with the #81 8Star GTE Am Ferrari, Matteo Malucelli at the wheel, an early session interloper at the top of the GTE timing screen.
Darren Turner, Pedro Lamy and a returning Fred Mako all took turns at the top in the factory Astons, as did Messrs Lietz and Bergmeister in the Factory Porches with the Ferraris propping up the list.
With the whole grid of GTE PRO within 8 tenths of a second after the first hour it continued to be the tightest class, as it has been for much of the season. Both the #99 and #97 Astons improved early in the second hour. Senna went third quickest in class with a 2:06.492 but was quickly bumped down to fourth by teammate Darren turner putting the #97 car into 2nd. Turner’s time of 2:06.352 was good enough to be within 2 tenths of Richard Lietz’s Porsche. Lietz briefly extended his lead in the class by a further tenth with a 2:06.049 before Stanaway in the 98 Aston followed him over the line to post a 2:06.153.
After a brief ten minute lull in quicker times Turner in the 97 car popped up into 2nd with a 2:06.108, putting him just 4 hundredths behind the Lieb/Lietz Porsche.
With many of the cars settling into either longer stints or driver installation laps it wasn’t until the final ten minutes of the session that we saw the final onslaught to be top of the times. First to blink was Mark Lieb putting a further 2 hundredths between him and Turner. Turner then beat his previous time by just 1 thousandth of a second with a 2:06.107.
It was the other two Astons that stole the show though. Lamy made the #98 car the first to dip under 2:06 with a 2:05.890 but was immediately displaced at the top of the times by Makowiecki who posted an excellent 2:05.225. Nobody improved in the Pro category on the final lap so it remained Aston, Aston, Porsche, with Ferrari needing to find half a second to be in the mix
GTE AM
With many drivers seeing the track for the first time it was unsurprising that there was relatively little significant pace in the early part of the session for the GTE AM class aside from the early burst of speed from Malucelli that put the #81 Ferrari at the top of the GTE pile overall.
The #50 Corvette briefly drew attention for the wrong reasons however by stopping out on track and bringing a red flag with 25 minutes remaining.
In fact it wasn’t until the last lap of the session that GT AM bubbled over. First Matteo Malucelli in the #81 Ferrari put in a blistering lap and went top of the class with a 2:05.969. This time was not only quick enough to be top of GT AM but also was the third quickest in GT overall, significantly quicker than both GT PRO Ferraris. Another impressive performer on the final lap was Matt Griffin who finished 2nd in class also finishing above both PRO Ferraris. The other notable performance in GT AM came from Jamie Campbell-Walter in the #96 Aston Martin who ended the session in 3rd, also mixing it with the GT PRO class cars.
James Goodwin
