Activities begin again in Lusail, where the protagonists of the FIA World Endurance Championship are back on track for Free Practice 1 in preparation for the 1812 Km of Qatar on Saturday.
Over the course of the 90 minutes available, interrupted only by a Full Course Yellow test and a couple of red flags, the Porsches once again showed excellent form right from the start.
Most of the teams entered the track and immediately got to work on the long runs to better understand the general scenario, so the times were not the 'attack' ones that we were able to see during the Prologue days.
The #5 Porsche of Team Penske is leading the Hypercar Class thanks to the 1'42″486 set by Matt Campbell, but in the wake of the official 963, 46 thousandths of a second behind, the Ferrari 499P #51 with James Calado achieved the fastest lap for the Maranello team, which once again is among those to have lapped the most.
#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
All the Weissach LMDhs are in the top positions because the #6 of Team Penske finishes third, one tenth behind its twin, the #99 of Proton Competition takes the Top5 by half a second and behind us we have the pair of 963 Jotas, with the # 38 ahead of #12.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Cadillac #2 takes fourth place, confirming that it is one of the fittest cars, while we have to go down to seventh place to find a Toyota, specifically the GR010 Hybrid #7 which has a delay of 0 “7 from the leader.
Completing the Top 10, within 0″9, there are also the Ferrari #50 and the Peugeot #94, while the 499P #83 of AF Corse and the second Toyota of the Champions #8 remain just behind the 9X8.
However, the ranking is rather short if we consider that the 19 protagonists of the Hypercar Class are in 1″8. The BMWs obtain 14th and 17th place, signaling Raffaele Marciello's off-road move at the end with the #15 in the corner 2.
The Lamborghini completed 40 laps, stopping 16th, immediately behind the Alpine #36, with the Isotta Fraschini putting together 30 laps, remaining at the rear, but closing in on the rivals in front of it.
#95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Joshua Caygill, Nicolas Pino, Marino Sato
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Also in the LMGT3 Class the main focus was on completing as many consecutive laps as possible and the record goes to the McLaren #95 of United Autosports in 1'55″824, closely followed by the pair of Ferrari 296s #55 and #56 of Vista AF Corse.
The Aston Martins also return to show themselves after the prologue: the Vantage #27 of Heart Of Racing and the #777 of D'Station Racing finish in the top five within half a second of the leaders, followed by the BMWs #31 and #46 of Team WRT and United's second McLaren.
The #81 and #82 Corvettes prepared by TF Sport close the Top10, outside of which we have the Porsches of Manthey Pure Rxcing #92 and Manthey EMA #91, 11th and 14th respectively, divided by the Lamborghinis of Iron Lynx #60 and Iron Dames # 85, just over a second of delay from the reference time.
Finishing at the bottom with a good dose of returns to their credit are the Ford Mustangs of Proton Competition and the Lexus of the Akkodis-ASP Team.
Free Practice 2 is scheduled for 3.30pm Italian time, again lasting 90'.
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