Audi finished up the third and final practice session of the Lone Star Le Mans event on top once again in LMP1, with Loic Duval repeating his Free Pracitce 2 performance by setting the best time in the #8 Audi R18. A 1:45.719 was the quickest lap from the Frenchman, in the opening minutes of the hour-long session.
Behind was the #1 and #2 Porches making up the top three, with Brendon Hartley leapfrogging the championship-leading 919 at around half distance with a 1:46.051 to better Romain Dumas’ 1:46.080.
The #7 Audi of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and the returning Benoit Treluyer finished up fourth, half a second slower than the sister car, with the pair of Toyotas once again fifth and sixth, a further five tenths back.
After the ByKolles team an quickest in night practice in LMP1 L, Rebellion’s R-One returned to its usual spot on top after a 1:52.538.
LMP2 was hotly contested once again amongst the frontrunners. This time it was Manor that maintained the status quo for Oreca as the fastest chassis, with Roberto Merhi lapping the track in 1:55.696.
Second though was the championship-challenging RGR Sport by Morand Ligier that won last time out. Quickest in the car was Bruno Senna, who in the final 15 minutes reeled off a 1:55.741. Third in the class meanwhile was the G-Drive crew with its Oreca that saw Alex Brundle set a 1:55.958
Aston Martin made it a 1-2 in the session at the head of GTE Pro, with Marco Sorensen setting the pace with a 2:03.368 in the #95 Dane-train Vantage, ahead of the #97 which flew up the order following Darren Turner’s 2:04.173 in his final series of laps. The fastest non-Aston was the #51 AF Corse Ferrari that set a 2:04.374 courtesy of Gianmaria Bruni.
Fourth and fifth were the #67 Ford and sister #71 AF Corse Ferrari, 1.1 and 1.2 seconds off the ultimate pace.
And finally in Am, it was Porsche on top, after Kevin Estre, who is subbing for Patrick Long this weekend in the Abu Dhabi Proton Porsche, completed a 2:06.038 lap of the circuit in the second half of the session.
Ester’s rapid time beat out Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston who could only manage a 2:06.199 that was enough to top the class for a good portion of the session. The #50 Larbre Corvette that once again saw Ricky Taylor set its fastest time ended up thid. The C7.R was good enough for a 2:06.476 to end the morning.
Qualifying for the WEC runner starts at 17:45 local time at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
