The first free practice session of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series got underway at Dubai Autodrome this afternoon. COOL Racing, with entries in LMP2 and LMP3, led both prototype classes after 90 minutes of practice around the 5.39 kilometre circuit.
19-year-old Danish sensation Malthe Jakobsen set the pace in LMP2 on a dirty, dusty track, putting the #37 COOL Racing Oreca LMP2 07 atop the standings with a best time of 1’48.013. Jakobsen’s best time was almost nine tenths of a second up on the rest of the field.
Neel Jani, the past FIA World Endurance Champion, went second-fastest in the #98 99 Racing Oreca, just nine milliseconds ahead of Mathias Beche in the gold #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca in third.
The #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of young Kyffin Simpson finished the session in fourth, while the #44 ARC Bratislava Oreca was fifth in the hands of Nico Pino.
It was a session free of any significant incidents or red flags. There were a few spinners, two of the Inter Europol Competition Ligier LMP3s, and the #57 Car Guy Ferrari 488 GT3. The #91 Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R also picked up a puncture and limped to the pits early in the session.
But the only interruption to 90 minutes of continuous running was a ten minute Full Course Yellow training towards the end of the session.
The top four runners in LMP3 were covered by just three tenths, led by Argentine driver Marcos Siebert in the #17 COOL Racing Ligier JS P320. Siebert’s time of 1’54.380 bested the #73 Inter Europol Ligier of James Winslow on a 1’54.516, in second. This was one of the cars that spun, James Corbett towards the end of the session lost control but continued to the finish.
The #11 WTR by Rinaldi Racing Duquiene D08 was third, with Leonard Weiss setting their fastest time in the session. The #29 MV2S Racing Ligier of Jerome de Sadeleer was fourth, and the #2 CD Sport Ligier of Vladislav Lomko was fifth.
Raffaele Marciello led the GT class by some margin, atop a top four lockout from Mercedes-AMG customer teams. Marciello, aboard the #10 GetSpeed Mercedes in its tenth anniversary special livery, set a time of 1’57.277 to lead the class in Free Practice 1.
That time was more than a second clear of Martin Konrad’s best lap aboard the #7 Al Manar/Haupt Racing Team Mercedes in second. Arjun Maini was third-quickest in the #6 Haupt Racing Mercedes, and Alexandre Imperatori was fourth in the pink #16 GetSpeed Mercedes.
The fastest non-Mercedes was a welcome surprise, as Viper Niza Racing and their #65 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 bounced back from woes in testing earlier today to clock the fifth-fastest time, set by Dominic Ang.
TF Sport’s #95 Aston Martin was tenth place in its first on-track session since arriving during the Friday morning test, but their #61 Evisu Jeans-sponsored car did not run after suffering damage in an incident during the aforementioned Friday test.
One other car that did not set a time was the #72 HubAuto Racing Mercedes.
