4 Hours of Barcelona winner COOL Racing got its weekend in Paul Ricard off to a fast start this afternoon, topping the time sheets in Free Practice 1 with a 1:41.186 from Malthe Jakobsen.
The Dane’s time was two tenths up on Vector Sport’s ORECA which ended up second after Felipe Drugovich’s 1:41.396.
AO by TF, which like Vector Sport is looking to bounce back from a challenging opening round in Spain, would take third in the times with a 1:41.476 from Louis Deletraz.
Like LMP2, LMP2 Pro/Am was topped by the Barcelona-winning car, with Matthieu Vaxiviere reeling off a 1:41.969 to put the #83 AF Corse ORECA sixth overall and almost three tenths up on the rest of the cars in the class.
In LMP3 it was DKR’s Duqueine that set the pace, with a 1:49.545 from Wyatt Brichacek. The first of the Ligiers was the #17 from COOL Racing which slotted in second with a 1:49.795 from Manuel Espirito Santo.
Interestingly, LMGT3 saw a Porsche set the benchmark time, a 1:55.257 from Julien Andlauer. This put the #60 from Proton above five Ferrari 296s which filled the remaining places down to sixth.
Quickest of the pack was the #86 from GR Racing following a hot lap from Davide Rigon that was two tenths faster than Ben Tuck’s best in the #66 from JMW.
Best of the rest after the Ferrari’s was the #59 Aston Martin from Racing Spirit of Le Mans in seventh.
Today’s opening practice session was held under blue skies and in warmer temperatures, after rain showers affected the pre-event test day yesterday. Consequently, the teams spent the running working on a dry set up for the first time.
There were no major incidents to report during the running, the only drama of note concerning the #77 Proton Competition ORECA, which stopped on the pit straight before being re-fired by Giorgio Roda and continuing.
The Bronze test is set to be held later this afternoon ahead of Free Practice 2 at 10:10 tomorrow morning.
