The 2021 ELMS LMP2 Champion Louis Deletraz set the fastest lap of the 4 hours of Portimao first free practice session (1.32.305) in the #41 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson, one-tenth of a second ahead of Nick De Vries in the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 Gibson (1.32.440) and Paul Loup Chatin in the #28 IDEC Oreca 07 Gibson (1.32.470).
It is worth remembering that Team WRT already secured the LMP2 Team title at Spa last month while G-Drive Racing is in contention this weekend for the class’s runner up position, and a second automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2022.
Meanwhile, in LMP3, the #13 Inter Europol Competition JSP320 Nissan driven by Ugo de Wilde led the category (1.37.260).
de Wilde’s time was some four tenths ahead of Laurents Horr in the #4 DKR Engineering Duqueine M30 D08 Nissan (1.37.692) and five tenths ahead of Wayne Boyd in the #2 United Autosport Ligier JSP320 (1.37.706).
Horr will attempt to earn a fourth consecutive win in the category this weekend while clinching an LMP3 drivers trophy and supporting DKR Engineering in getting another LMP3 -Teams Trophy. He will need to finish ahead of the current class leading car, the #19 Cool Racing Ligier JSP320 shared by Nicolas Maulini, Matt Bell and Niklas Kruetten to that effect. His car ranked 9th during the session (1.38.408).
Inter Europol however had a less happy end to the session after an off for de Wilde saw the brand new #13 car recovered after a substantial hit with the barriers and significant front-end damage.
Finally, in the LMGTE category, it was a 1-2 for Proton Competition with Richard Lietz in the #93 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 (1.40.315) leading Gianmaria Bruni in the #77 sister car (1.40.808). Both Porsches are no longer in contention for the 2021 LMGTE drivers and teams trophy.
The #95 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR driven by Ross Gunn ended in third position, some six tenths behind the leading Porsche (1.40.899). The class-leading car, the #80 Iron Lynx shared by Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Miguel Molina finished 6th (1.41.370).
