Free Practice 1 of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo saw a Peugeot finish at the top of the overall standings, as the FIA World Endurance Championship contenders began preparing for the fifth event of the 2024 season.
After the rain that fell during the night, this morning the Interlagos track was damp and even at the start of the session the Race Direction declared the track wet, with times that then gradually dropped over the course of the 90 minutes of activity, quickly leading to the need to even fit slick tyres.
Apart from a Virtual Safety Car test, the only decisive interruption occurred after about 45 minutes due to the exit at turn 4 of the Lexus #78 driven by Arnold Robin (Akkodis-ASP). The problem was the huge impact that the Frenchman had against the wall (although he came out unharmed) and the repairs to the barriers took a long time.
This led to the decision to interrupt the tests and add minutes to the afternoon ones, which will start at 7:30 pm Italian time and end at 9:45 pm, therefore 45 minutes earlier than the initial schedule.
That said, the best time was achieved by Nico Muller with the Peugeot 9X8 #93 in 1’26″341, immediately after fitting slick tyres and managing to precede the Cadillac #2 by 0″179, while in third place we find the official Porsche #6 of Team Penske with a delay of 0″226.
The ranking is obviously reworked and with several having put together around 25 passages, it is still all to be verified and written in terms of real performances and times.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercar of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
In any case, Toyota and Ferrari close in the Top 5 with the GR010 Hybrid #8 and the 499P #83 prepared by AF Corse, which is also the best of the privateers, leaving behind the BMW #20 and the Rossa #50 winner at Le Mans, the first of the HYPERCAR class to find itself 1″ behind the lead.
The top 10 also includes the #7 Toyota, the #5 Porsche-Penske and the Isotta Fraschini, which completed just 12 laps. The car that has lapped the least is the #38 Jota Porsche, at the bottom of the list with just 7 laps under its belt.
In the LMGT3 class, the lead goes to local idol Nicolas Costa aboard the #59 United Autosports McLaren in 1’35″881, just 3 thousandths of a second ahead of the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, followed in turn by the #777 Vantage of D’Station Racing.
The Lamborghinis of Iron Lynx #60 and Iron Dames #85 took the top 5, further behind them and more than 0″7 behind the top are the Ferrari #55 of AF Corse and the BMWs #31 and #46 of Team WRT; on this last M4, Valentino Rossi completed 16 laps after Maxime Martin’s 7, resulting in being the fastest thanks to the dry track.
McLaren #95 and Lexus-Akkodis ASP #87 finish in the Top 10, ahead of Corvette and Porsche.
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