Aston tops first practice at Barcelona

AMR driver Stefan Mucke topped the times in the best of the Lola-Aston LMP1 coupes with a 1m35.014s lap, which was just 0.078s clear of Jean-Christophe Boullion in the revised Pescarolo-Judd 01. The Strakka Ginetta-Zytek was a little over a second behind, while the number one Courage-ORECA was a further 0.004s in arears.

AMR team principal George Howard-Chappell said: "It was a problem-free session for us; everything seems fine. The good thing is that it looks incredibly close between us, Pescarolo, ORECA and the Ginetta-Zytek, and I'm sure the [Kolles] Audis are going to get up there too. I'm sure it is going to close
this year."

Howard-Chappell singled out the Pescarolo, which had not run in its 2009 configuration prior to the session, for praise.

"That Pescarolo is a fast car," he said. "It did more 1m35s laps than we did, that's for sure."

Strakka driver Peter Hardman ended up on a 1m36.113s after a new-tyre run. Team-mate Danny Watts did a 36.3s on old tyres.

The LMP2 times were headed by Olivier Pla in the ASM Team Ginetta-Zytek.

The Luc Alphand Aventures Chevrolet Corvette C6, driven by team Yann Clairay, Patrice Goueslard and team boss Alphand, headed the four-car GT1 field, while Tom Coronel jumped to the head of the GT2 times in the factory Spyker C8 right at the end of the session.

Pos  Cl    Drivers                      Car                      Time
 1.  LMP1  Charouz/Mucke/Enge           Lola Aston Martin        1.35.014
 2.  LMP1  Boullion/Tinseau             Pescarolo-Judd           1.35.047
 3.  LMP1  Hardman/Leventis/Watts       Ginetta-Zytek 09S-Zytek  1.36.113
 4.  LMP1  Panis/Lapierre               Courage-Oreca LC70-AIM   1.36.117
 5.  LMP1  Belicchi/Prost/Fassler       Lola B06/80 Coupe-Aston  1.36.247
 6.  LMP1  Primat/Turner/Ramos          Lola Aston Martin        1.36.549
 7.  LMP1  Ragues/Mailleux              Courage-Oreca LC70-Judd  1.36.707
 8.  LMP1  Bakkerud/Albers              Audi R10 TDI             1.36.896
 9.  LMP2  Amaral/Pla                   Ginetta-Zytek 09S-Zytek  1.37.241
10.  LMP1  Ortelli/Senna                Courage-Oreca LC70-AIM   1.37.320
11.  LMP2  Francioni/Ceccato/Piccini    Lola B08/80 Coupe-Judd   1.38.512
12.  LMP2  Pompidou/Kane/Leuenberger    Lola B08/80 Coupe-Judd   1.38.806
13.  LMP1  Jouanny/Barbosa              Pescarolo-Judd           1.38.932
14.  LMP2  Erdos/Newton                 Lola B08/80 Coupe-Mazda  1.38.946
15.  LMP2  Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter         Zytek 07S-Zytek          1.39.063
16.  LMP2  Noda/Sini/Marsh              Lola B09/86-Mazda        1.40.054
17.  LMP1  Meyrick/Zwolsman/Krumm       Audi R10 TDI             1.40.188
18.  LMP2  Piccini/Bobbi/Biagi          Lola B08/80 Coupe-Judd   1.40.192
19.  LMP2  Salini/Salini/Gommendy       WR-Zytek                 1.40.906
20.  LMP2  Bruneau/Moseley/Greensall    Radical SR9 -AER         1.41.931
21.  LMP2  Lahaye/Ajlani                Pescarolo-Mazda          1.44.331
22.  LMP2  Hein/Nicolet                 Pescarolo-Mazda          1.44.780
23.  GT1   Alphand/Goueslard/Clairay    Corvette C6.R            1.46.354
24.  LMP2  Schell/Thirion               Courage-Oreca LC75-AER   1.46.463
25.  GT1   Rusinov/Kox                  Lamborghini Murcielago   1.46.710
26.  GT1   Makowiecki/Bornhauser/Smet   Saleen S7R-Ford          1.48.202
27.  GT1   Konopka/Edwards/Daniels      Saleen S7R               1.48.752
28.  LMP2  Moncada/Cortez/Armetta       Lucchini-Judd            1.49.134
29.  GT2   Coronel/Janis                Spyker C8 Laviolette     1.49.984
30.  GT2   Lietz/Lieb                   Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      1.50.085
31.  GT2   Narac/Pilet                  Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      1.50.490
32.  GT2   Rosa/Petrobelli/Montermini   Ferrari F430 GT          1.50.575
33.  GT2   Garcia/Mansell               Ferrari F430 GT          1.50.733
34.  GT2   Ehret/Beltoise               Ferrari F430 GT          1.50.863
35.  GT2   Simonsen/Montanari/Schwager  Ferrari F430 GT          1.50.894
36.  GT2   Bell/Bruni                   Ferrari F430 GT          1.51.663
37.  GT2   Felbermayr Jr/Ried/Martins   Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      1.52.007
38.  GT2   Hartshorne/Lebon/Ianetta     Ferrari F430 GT          1.52.389
39.  GT2   Drayson/Cocker               Aston Martin Vantage     1.52.571
40.  GT2   Vergers/McInerney/McInerney  Ferrari F430 GT          1.52.996
41.  GT2   Basso/Plati/Tenchini         Lamborghini Gallardo     1.53.357
42.  LMP2  Randaccio/Giammaria          Lucchini                 1.54.018
43.  LMP2  Ibanez/Cavailhes/da Rocha    Courage LC75             no time