Free Practice 1 at Circuit of the Americas was halted by over 50 minutes due to a trackside technical issue.
It started just after the scheduled start of the 90-minute session. The #15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 stopped in between turns 13 and 14 with an MGU failure, just as Raffaele Marciello was bringing the car up to speed.
The car was lifted away with no issues, but then a software issue at the track led to teams saying that they were receiving faulty data. The red flag was extended to deal with the problem.
Race Director Eduardo Freitas then made the decision to start the entire session from the beginning at 12:31 PM CT (local time).
Not long after the session restarted, the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R set the fastest time, courtesy of Will Stevens, who set a 1:53.584.
Behind him in a very impressive second and fourth place on the leaderboard were the two Aston Martin Valkyries: Harry Tincknell in the #007 (1:53.713) in second, and Alex Riberas in the #009 (1:53.789) in fourth.
Robert Kubica went third-fastest in the yellow #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P (1:53.728).
While the #12 Cadillac set the fastest time, it did bring out a red flag (the third of four during the session) with less than 20 minutes left. Alex Lynn spun at turn seven and got stuck in the gravel, not ideal for the leading Hypercar.
Rounding out the Hypercar top five was Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, ahead of its sister car, the #50 of Nicklas Nielsen in sixth. The #20 WRT BMW finished seventh, while the #15 car would return to the course after repairs to run laps near the end of FP1.
The #93 Peugeot 9X8, the #36 Alpine A424, and the #8 Toyota GR010–Hybrid completed the top ten in the top class.
TF Sport’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 LMGT3.Rs finished 1-2 in LMGT3, led by Daniel Juncadella in the #33 Corvette.
The Spaniard set a 2:07.037 to surpass the best time set by the #81 Corvette of Charlie Eastwood. Eastwood’s 2:07.094 was still sufficient for second place, but the car would bring out a session-ending fourth red flag after it stopped with Rui Andrade behind the wheel.
Behind the two Corvettes was the #95 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 Evo of Marino Sato (2:07.295), the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 LMGT3 R of Michelle Gatting (2:07.365), and the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of Davide Rigon (2:07.385).
But Racing Spirit of Léman suffered a setback: Derek DeBoer crashed the #10 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 in turns four and five while on an outlap. DeBoer walked away unassisted, though the car suffered damage at the rear.
Free Practice 2 starts at 4:30 PM CT.
Images © FIA WEC / DPPI
