Free Practice 2 for the Asian Le Mans Series runners this morning saw Spirit of Race’s Ligier once again prove to be the benchmark at the top of the times in the LMP2 class.
The Swiss-flagged team’s Nissan-powered JS P2, of Come Ledogar, Pipo Derani and Alexander West finished up with a 1:57.046 set by Derani with half an hour to go. His time wasn’t as fast as his FP1-topping time from yesterday, which was a 1:56.582.
It was close in LMP2 though, with many of the eight cars in the class trading fast times at the top throughout the 90-minutes of running.
Jazemann Jaafar came close to putting Jackie Chan DC Racing’s LMP2 crew on top, the Malaysian’s best time a 1:57.682, six tenths off the former Sebring and Rolex 24 winner, and good enough for the fastest time briefly in the second half of the session.
Completing the top three was the #35 Panis Barthez Ligier Judd, its best time a 1:57.892, which pushed the first of the two Algarve Pro Racing Ligier’s – the #25 – outside the top three.
The #25, which had a tough start to the weekend with mechanical issues in testing limiting its running, had a storng run in FP2, finishing with 26 laps and a best time of 1:58.041 set by Anders Fjordbach.
LMP3 meanwhile, was topped by United Autosports’ #2 Ligier JS P3, Wayne Boyd the fast man in the car, reeling off a 2:01.184 late in the session.
That time beat out the Inter Europol Ligier which ended up second, by five tenths, and the Viper Niza JS P3 that ran quickest in the 10-car class in FP1, that finished third with a 2:02.557 by Nigel Moore.
Further down the order, it was a tough run for Jackie Chan DC Racing’s two Ligier JS P3s, finishing eighth and ninth in the class, the #38 with Hugo De Sadeleer aboard ending up off the track and in the barriers breifly with under 30 minutes to go.
The Swiss’ off came before the session was red-flagged and ended prematurely by the #11 Car Guy Ferrari getting beached in the gravel with seven minutes remaining in the session.
The Car Guy 488 GT3 was the fastest car in the GT class, James Calado managing a 2:04.132 before Takeshi Kimura’s off between Turn 1 and 2.
That was less than a tenth quicker than the #51 Spirit of Race Ferrari which ended up second, and nearly a second faster than the #88 TSRT Audi that took third.
26 of the 27 cars made it out in the session, the #66 TRST entry unable to take part, as the team waits for its Mercedes AMG GT3 (which will replace its Audi R8 LMS) to arrive at the circuit.
EKS Motorsport’s Porsche topped the GT Cup class with a 2:08.849.
Next up on the schedule is Qualifying, at 15:50 local time in Shanghai.
