Harry Tincknell topped the times in the first FIA WEC practice session of the weekend at Interlagos. The British Aston Martin factory driver set a 1:25.457 early in the 90-minute session aboard the #007 Valkyrie, on a fresh set of Medium Michelin tyres.
Robert Kubica, in the #84 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, looked set to end the session at the top of the times, after setting a 1:25.184. But the Polish racer had multiple lap times deleted, including his outright fastest, after he was caught speeding in the pit lane.
That dropped the #83 to fourth in the times with its best valid lap a 1:25.596 set during Kubica’s second stint. Consequently, it bumped the #007 Aston Martin to the top, and the #50 and #51 factory 499Ps to second and third, respectively.
The second fastest time was just 0.024 off Tincknell’s best, a 1:25.481 from Antonio Fuoco, with Antonio Giovinazzi setting a 1:25.563 to go third.
Alpine completed the top five with its #36 A424. Fred Makowiecki was the pace-setter for Les Bleus. His 1:26.520 was also set at the start of the session before the track became busy.
There was very little experimentation with the two Michelin compounds during the running, which was held in 24-degree heat. Almost the entire field spent the entire session on Mediums, and those that did, ended up within a second of the top time.
Toyota’s #8 TR010 was an outlier, sampling a set of Hard tyres throughout, but ended up at the bottom of the screens, over a second off with a 1:26.799. The sister car, which leads the championship, set a 1:26.219 on Mediums to go 12th.
Peugeot’s #93 9X8, meanwhile, ran with Hards on the right and Mediums on the left, and was only marginally quicker than the Toyota, with a lap to go 16th.
In LMGT3, Iron Lynx’s #61 Mercedes-AMG GT3 topped the class with a 1:34.883 from Maxime Martin.
The top 10 in the class were separated by less than a second, and the top five spots were occupied by different manufacturers.
Racing Team Turkey’s Corvette slotted in second with a 1:35.459 from Charlie Eastwood. The #32 WRT BMW was third with a 1:35.596, and the #77 Proton Ford ended up fourth with a 1:35.648.
Vista AF Corse’s #21 Ferrari completed the top five with a 1:35.727.
There were no significant incidents to report. The session ran green with only the occasional yellow flag.
Next up is Free Practice 2 at 15:50 local time.
Image Andrew Lofthouse
