United Autosports’ Oreca 07 LMP2s finished first and second in Friday’s private test session from Dubai Autodrome, the first timed on-track session for the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.
Philip Hanson led the way, setting a time of 1’48.164 in the #22 United Oreca carrying the team’s traditional blue, red, and white colours. Oliver Jarvis was second, with a best time of 1’48.379 – driving the #23 car in black and orange.
They were followed by the #98 99 Racing Oreca – still searching for a Bronze graded driver – in third, the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Daytona 24 Hour LMP2 class winner James Allen in fourth, and the #24 Oreca of defending LMP2 series champions Nielsen Racing with Mathias Beche in fifth.
There were two red flags in the session, each caused by Aston Martin Vantage GT3s – whose customer base had a tough session.
Malaysian underdogs Viper Niza Racing had multiple issues during Thursday’s untimed private tests, and just ten minutes into the session, they suffered a hub shear. Douglas Khoo came to a stop in sector one and the red flag was displayed for another ten minutes.
With forty minutes left in the session, the #61 TF Sport Aston Martin had an incident and returned to the garage with damage to the front and rear, causing the second red flag. The Evisu Jeans-sponsored entry also wasn’t scored during this session, presumably missing its transponder as the team have had to work through a number of challenges because of freight arriving late.
One piece of good news for TF Sport is that their #95 car has finally arrived and is being worked on in the garage, so we should see this car appear during Free Practice 1 later today.
Nico Varrone, fresh off his LMP3 class victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona, went quickest in LMP3 in the #11 WTR by Rinaldi Racing Duquiene D08.
One of just three Duquiene chassis in the field, the #11 finished ahead of Xavier Lloveras in the #8 Graff Racing Ligier JS P320 in second, and Matt Bell in the #4 Nielsen Racing Ligier in third. The #55 Rinaldi Racing Duquiene of Lorcan Hanafin and the #29 MV2S Racing Ligier of Fabien Lavergne rounded out the top five in class, with six tenths of a second between them.
Of note, the #18 360 Racing Ligier that had been damaged after an incident in testing yesterday, completed just one shakedown lap. They spent most of the session tending to an issue with the steering rack in advance of Free Practice 1.
Just one second covered the top ten in the GT class, led by the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.
The quickest time, 1’58.053, was credited to Thomas Merrill – a late addition to the team’s driving crew, replacing Richard Heistand as their compulsory Bronze graded driver.
Daytona and Bathurst winner Jules Gounon finished second in HubAuto Racing’s #72 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Robert Renauer was third in the #99 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R, one of several 991.2 models running its last race in front-line GT3 action.
Behind them were the two Haupt Racing Team Mercedes, the yellow and blue #6 of Frank Bird in fourth, and the black #7 of Martin Konrad in fifth.
