It was a Ferrari 1-2 in the first Free Practice session of the weekend at the Circuit of The Americas, with Antonio Giovinazzi setting a 1:53.824 on a full set of medium-compound tyres in the #51 Ferrari 499P.
The #50 finished the session 0.2 seconds behind its sister car, logging a total of 38 laps over the hour-and-a-half session, two fewer than the #51.
Last season, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse finished on the podium behind the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, with the #51 finishing the six-hour contest fifth overall on the lead lap.
In a late-session surge, the #36 Alpine Endurance Team car put in a 1:54.223 with Victor Martins aboard to go third fastest in the session, with the #35 Alpine following them up the order into fifth quickest. The #8 Toyota split the French teammates, turning up the intensity about half an hour into the session after setting some banker laps.
The Aston Martin THOR and Genesis Magma Racing camps had a good showing, both with a car in the top nine of the session with the #009 and #19.
There was plenty of experimentation with the medium and hard Michelin tyres across the Hypercar field. Many teams ran full sets of mediums; the #83 AF Corse Ferrari ran mediums on the front and hards on the rear, and four cars ran a full set of hards: both Genesis GMR-001s, along with the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota V-Series.R and the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Both BMW Team WRT cars finished down the order in P15 for the #15 and P17 for the #20, currently tied for the drivers’ championship with the #7 Toyota, which finished the session P6.
In LMGT3, Tom Fleming in the #10 Garage 59 McLaren eclipsed the long-standing fastest lap of the session from the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 with twenty minutes to go, heading the class with a 2:06.016.
Sitting eighth in the standings, the McLaren is looking positive after a disappointing São Paolo saw it finish 25 laps off the lead lap. The Iron Lynx wound up second, with the #58 Garage 59 McLaren just 0.034 seconds back of the Mercedes in third.
The #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari finished the session fourth quickest, showing good pace. The team is looking to extend its record of points finishes this season to five. Behind the Ferrari was the first Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, with the #23 Heart of Racing car in the mid-2:06s, in touch with the leading McLaren.
Next up is Free Practice 2 at 4:00 PM track time, with FP3 and Qualifying to follow on Saturday.
Image courtesy of DPPI
