Inter Europol Competition continued to show speed at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the first Free Practice session of the 2025 ELMS season today.
The Polish team, which ran fastest in the two-day pre-season test earlier in the week, ended the session quickest with its #43 ORECA after a 1:29.333 from Tom Dillmann.
However, that time from the Frenchman – set during an eight-lap run – didn’t eclipse Luca Ghiotto’s 1:28.808 in the sister car during testing, which remains the fastest time of the week.
Nevertheless, it was a highly productive 90 minutes for both its cars, which completed the most tours in the LMP2 class, with 29 apiece.
The #9 Iron Lynx Proton ORECA ended up second in the standings with a 1:38.733 from Matteo Cairoli, while the #37 CLX Pure Rxcing example slotted in third after Tom Blomqvist got within seven tenths of Dillmann.
The quickest of the LMP2 Pro/Am runners was the #77 Proton ORECA, which would sit seventh overall in the combined rankings after Bent Viscaal’s 1:30.429.
Ligier’s fleet of JS P325s set the pace in LMP3, occupying positions one through eight in the class, with times within 1.3 seconds of each other.
The fastest of the French prototypes was the #17 from CLX Motorsport. Adrien Closmenil set the time, a 1:37.536 – not quite quick enough to better the 1:36.8 time from Quentin Antonel and M Racing in the test.
DKR’s Ginetta was best of the rest, with a 1:39.502 from Wyatt Brichacek to put the single G61-LT-P325 EVO ninth of the 10 cars.
That left the WTM by Rinaldi Duqueine D09 to occupy 10th spot with a 1:40.263 from Leonard Weiss, which left the car 2.7 seconds off the ultimate pace.
It was Ferrari on top in LMGT3, with Richard Mille AF Corse’s #50 296 LMGT3 completing a 1:40.985 from Riccardo Agostini. Kessel Racing’s #57 car took second after Daniel Serra reeled off a 1:41.183.
Proton Competition’s #60 Porsche was the fastest of the other models in the field. Alessio Picariello put the 911 GT3 R LMGT3 third with his 1:41.849.
The entire LMGT3 field set times within 1.9 seconds, bar the United Autosports McLaren which was 2.2 back as Wayne Boyd could only muster a 1:43.231. This shouldn’t be a cause for concern for the Anglo-American team as it runs through its pre-race programme though, since Boyd managed a 1:40.870 in testing.
It was a pretty quiet session, with only two significant interruptions. One was a Full-Course Yellow for a minor off for Vector’s ORECA, the other was a brief red flag in the closing minutes.
ELMS track action continues with the Bronze Test at 16:10 local time later today.
