Silverstone WEC: di Grassi leads the way for Audi in first practice
Audi driver Lucas di Grassi topped the times in first free practice for this weekend's opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone
The Brazilian ended up fastest with a 1m42.121s lap set midway through the 90-minute session aboard the #8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro he shares with Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis.
The verdict on WEC's LMP1 big guns
The time put him just over a tenth clear of the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid in the hands of Mark Webber, who ended up on 1m42.265s.
The second Audi was a further tenth back on a 1m42.360s, with Andre Lotterer at the wheel.
Neel Jani ended up fourth in the #18 Porsche, which completed only 13 laps courtesy of a right-rear driveshaft issue.
The two Toyota TS040 HYBRIDs were fifth and sixth in the hands of Alex Wurz and Anthony Davidson respectively.
Wurz's best Toyota lap of 1m42.549s left him six tenths behind di Grassi.
The two G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan JSP2s run by the French OAK team led the way in LMP2.
Gustavo Yacaman posted the fastest time of the session with a 1m50.213s, which was just five hundredths up on Sam Bird's best in the sister car.
Aston Martin sat at the top of the GTE Pro times courtesy of a 2m01.393s lap from Nicki Thiim in the Danish-crewed Vantage.
Gianmaria Burni was just under three tenths behind in the fastest of the AF Corse factory Ferraris, his time shading Darren Turner's best in the second fastest of the three Aston Pro entries.
Klaus Bacher was fastest in GTE Am for the Proton Porsche team.
PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m42.121s | - | 31 |
2 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m42.265s | 0.144s | 34 |
3 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m42.360s | 0.239s | 25 |
4 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m42.457s | 0.336s | 13 |
5 | LMP1 | A.Wurz, S.Sarrazin, M.Conway | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m42.749s | 0.628s | 27 |
6 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m43.565s | 1.444s | 35 |
7 | LMP2 | G.Yacaman, P.Derani, R.Gonzalez | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 1m50.213s | 8.092s | 37 |
8 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, J.Canal, S.Bird | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 1m50.267s | 8.146s | 29 |
9 | LMP2 | M.Howson, R.Bradley, N.Tandy | KCMG | ORECA/Nissan | 1m50.779s | 8.658s | 27 |
10 | LMP2 | N.Panciatici, P-L.Chatin, V.Capillaire | Signatech Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 1m50.833s | 8.712s | 25 |
11 | LMP2 | S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.H.Hansson | Extreme Speed Motorsports | HPD | 1m51.383s | 9.262s | 33 |
12 | LMP2 | N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane | Strakka Racing | Dome/Nissan | 1m52.719s | 10.598s | 26 |
13 | LMP2 | E.Brown, J.Fogarty, D.Brabham | Extreme Speed Motorsports | HPD | 1m53.806s | 11.685s | 25 |
14 | LMP1 | S.Trummer, V.Liuzzi, C.Klien | Team ByKolles | CLM/AER | 1m54.194s | 12.073s | 25 |
15 | LMP2 | J.Nicolet, J-M.Merlin, E.Maris | Oak Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 1m54.981s | 12.860s | 35 |
16 | GTE Pro | C.Nygaard, M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m01.393s | 19.272s | 38 |
17 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, T.Vilander | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m01.680s | 19.559s | 34 |
18 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, S.Mucke | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m01.707s | 19.586s | 26 |
19 | GTE Pro | P.Pilet, F.Makowiecki | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 2m01.754s | 19.633s | 29 |
20 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, M.Christensen | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 2m01.810s | 19.689s | 30 |
21 | GTE Pro | A.MacDowall, F.Rees, R.Stanaway | Aston Martin Racing V8 | Aston Martin | 2m01.827s | 19.706s | 33 |
22 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, J.Calado | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m02.115s | 19.994s | 38 |
23 | GTE Am | C.Ried, K.Al Qubaisi, K.Bachler | Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m02.350s | 20.229s | 31 |
24 | GTE Am | V.Shaytar, A.Bertolini, A.Basov | SMP Racing | Ferrari | 2m02.427s | 20.306s | 34 |
25 | GTE Am | G.Roda, P.Ruberti, K.Poulsen | Larbre Competition | Chevrolet | 2m02.503s | 20.382s | 34 |
26 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.Aguas | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m02.689s | 20.568s | 35 |
27 | GTE Am | F.Castellacci, R.Goethe, S.Hall | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m02.781s | 20.660s | 32 |
28 | GTE Am | P.Dempsey, P.Long, M.Seefried | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m03.138s | 21.017s | 31 |
29 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m03.428s | 21.307s | 32 |
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