French LMP2 team RD Limited continued to set the pace in Abu Dhabi under the floodlights this evening, with Tristan Vautier putting the team’s #30 ORECA at the top of the timing screens in the final practice session of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans season.
Free Practice 2 at the Yas Marina circuit saw a couple of interruptions, including a red flag to allow marshals to recover some debris on track at Turn 12.
But it was the pace that was in the spotlight. After James Allen set the fastest lap in FP1 for RD, Vautier improved the best time of the day by four-tenths of a second, setting a 1:40.800 lap. It was 0.449s quicker than the team’s nearest rival, the #25 ORECA from Algarve Pro Racing, which had its best lap set by Malthe Jakobsen.
The #24 Nielsen Racing of Nicky Catsburg finished third fastest, 0.12s slower than the #25 Oreca with a 1:41.369 lap, just ahead of Mathias Beche in the #11 Proton Competition 07 Gibson with a best time of 1:41.557.
Elsewhere, the #26 Bretton Racing Ligier set the best LMP3 time in FP2, and also for the day, with Griffin Peebles reeling off a 1:48.446, nearly 1.2 seconds ahead of the second fastest car in the class, the #15 RLR MSport Ligier of Ian Aguilera.
The #35 Ultimate was third fastest, 0.025s behind the #15 Ligier and 0.5 seconds ahead of the #7 Graff Racing Ligier.
Car Collection Motorsport topped the GT times for the second time today, but in this session, it was the #12 Porsche of Nico Menzel that went quickest, the German posting a 1:53.318 lap late on. That was slower than the best FP1 time set by his teammate in the #21 911 GT3 R though.
The second fastest in GT was the #23 Absolute Racing Ferrari 296 of Chris Van Der Drift, the 1:53.363 lap just 0.045s slower than the #12 Porsche’s best time.
The #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren was third quickest, just 0.001 slower than the Ferrari and 0.058s ahead of the #89 EMB Aston Martin Vantage, making it four different manufacturers in the top four covered by just 0.094s.
Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi will take place tomorrow morning, beginning with GT qualifying at 10:50 followed by the two LMP classes at 11:15. Qualifying will be shown live on the ALMS YouTube channel.
