Proton Competition’s #22 ORECA 07 Gibson ran fastest in the opening practice session of the Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Dubai weekend this afternoon.
The best time in the car came from Giorgio Roda, a 1:49.386 set early in the session during a Qualifying sim on fresh tyres.
Second in the LMP2 times was the #24 Nielsen Racing ORECA, super-sub Will Stevens reeling off a 1:49.762 to get within four-tenths of the #22. The Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA completed the top three after Colin Braun’s best time.
In LMP3, CD Sport led the way with a 1:54.605 from Fabien Lavergne in the team’s #2 Ligier JS P320.
The #17 Ligier from Cool Racing ended up second, James Winslow touring the circuit in 1:55.533, almost a second up on the Viper Niza JS P320 that slotted in third.
GT saw AF Corse’s #21 Ferrari 296 GT3 set the best time. 2024 Rolex 24 Hours GTD Pro winner Davide Rigon set a 1:58.931 to top the timing screens.
Four manufacturers ended up in the top four, with the #7 Almanar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 that topped the morning’s Test session taking second, the #77 D’Station Racing Aston Martin third and the #43 Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 fourth.
Anthony Liu’s 1:59.016 came closest to challenging Rigon’s time, the Chinese racer getting within a tenth.
It was a clean session, with no yellows or stoppages and all 41 cars completing more than 20 laps. The only mishaps came in the form of track limit violations, with multiple cars receiving stop-go penalties for “constant abuse”.
Track action continues tomorrow at 10:10 local time with Free Practice 2.
