Shanghai WEC: Allan McNish puts Audi on top in first practice
Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen put Audi on top in a tight opening session of the final round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship at Shanghai
McNish, still in narrow contention for the drivers' crown, set the pace with an early best of 1m52.219s.
While that remained unbeaten for the remainder of the session, both Toyota and the sister Audi R18 e-tron quattro came extremely close, with the trio separated by just 0.152s as the chequered flag fell.
The Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a was again best of the rest, finishing as the fastest privateer LMP1 entry and just one second down on the factory cars.
In contrast to the tight LMP1 battle, the ADR-Delta ORECA-Nissan put in an emphatic early showing to finish more than 1.5s clear in LMP2.
Fresh from dominating last time out in Fuji, the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3-RSR set the pace in GTE Pro.
Aston Martin had been leading the chase, but in the final minute Gianmaria Bruni put the AF Corse Ferrari 458 second, less than three hundredths of a second in arrears.
The Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 meanwhile claimed GTE Am honours.
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time 1. P1 Kristensen/McNish Audi 1m52.219s 2. P1 Wurz/Lapierre Toyota 1m52.365s 3. P1 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi 1m52.371s 4. P1 Leventis/Watts/Kane Strakka HPD 1m53.279s 5. P1 Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck JRM HPD 1m53.669s 6. P1 Prost/Jani Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m54.594s 7. P1 Baguette/Kraihamer/Sato OAK Pescarolo-Honda 1m55.082s 8. P1 Belicchi/Primat/Chen Rebellion Lola-Toyota 1m55.600s 9. P2 Martin/Graves/Beche ADR-Delta ORECA-Nissan 1m56.227s 10. P2 Holzer/Schultis Lotus Lola-Lotus 1m57.746s 11. P2 Perez Companc/Minassian/Kaffer Pecom ORECA-Nissan 1m57.851s 12. P2 Potolicchio/Dalziel/Sarrazin Starworks HPD 1m58.019s 13. P2 Charouz/Rossiter/Weeda Lotus Lola-Lotus 1m58.150s 14. P2 Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla OAK Morgan-Nissan 1m58.187s 15. P2 Zugel/Gonzalez/Julian Greaves Zytek-Nissan 1m58.757s 16. P2 Panciatici/Ragues/Rusinov Signatech ORECA-Nissan 1m58.982s 17. P2 Mailleux/Lombard/Tresson Signatech ORECA-Nissan 1m59.452s 18. P2 Giroix/Ihara/Deletraz Gulf Lola-Nissan 2m00.213s 19. GTE P Lieb/Lietz Felbermayr Porsche 2m06.834s 20. GTE P Fisichella/Bruni AF Ferrari 2m06.861s 21. GTE P Mucke/Turner Aston Martin 2m06.975s 22. GTE P Bertolini/Beretta AF Ferrari 2m07.940s 23. GTE A Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo Krohn Ferrari 2m08.345s 24. GTE A Kauffman/Aguas/Waltrip AF Ferrari 2m08.846s 25. GTE A Belloc/Bourret/Gibon Larbre Corvette 2m08.968s 26. GTE A Ried/Roda/Ruberti Felbermayr Porsche 2m09.005s 27. GTE A Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy Larbre Corvette 2m09.134s 28. GTE A Camathias/Palttala/Bell JWA Porsche 2m10.517s
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