Portimao WEC: Da Costa's Jota LMP2 fastest in FP1 ahead of Alpine

Da Costa posted a 1m33.752s aboard his ORECA-Gibson 07 to move ahead of three cars running in the Hypercar class with 10 minutes left on the clock of the hour-and-a-half free practice session.

His time around the Algarve circuit put him just 0.029s ahead of the Alpine-Gibson A480 LMP1 in which Nicolas Lapierre had earlier set a 1m33.781s.

The two Toyota Le Mans Hypercars were right behind the Alpine ORECA design as the top four cars were separated by just 0.055s.

Sebastien Buemi took third spot in the #8 GR010 HYBRID with a 1m33.800s, while Kamui Kobayashi was fractionally behind on a 1m33.807s

The new Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 LMH ended up 12th with a 1m34.789s set by Richard Westbrook, which left the new Le Mans Hypercar just over a second off the pace.

Fifth fastest and second in LMP2 was Alex Brundle in the Inter Europol ORECA with a 1m33.979s lap, while Ben Hanley took sixth for DragonSpeed on 1m34.268s.

Paul di Resta and Giedo van der Garde were seventh and eighth in their respective United Autosports and Racing Team Nederland ORECAs.

The second Jota ORECA with Tom Blomqvist driving and the RealTeam Racing entry with Norman Nato at the wheel rounded out the top 10 overall.

Kevin Estre leapfrogged Porsche team-mate Gianmaria Bruni at the end of the session to lead the way in GTE Pro.

#91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR - 19: Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz, Frederic Makowiecki

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The Frenchman's 1m40.227s in the best of the factory Porsche 911 RSRs put him just over a tenth up on Bruni's 1m40.389s.

Daniel Serra was three tenths back in the fastest of the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.

The Brazilian's 1m40.682s compared with 1m40.738s set by team-mate James Calado in the sister car.

Matt Campbell led the way in GTE Am for the Dempsey-Proton Porsche squad.

The Australian's 1m41.202s put him just over two tenths up on Iron Lynx team boss Andrea Piccini.

Two further sessions of free practice on Saturday are followed by qualifying for Sunday's second round of the 2021 WEC, the Portimao 8 Hours, at 6pm local time.

Results

Cla	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.752
2	Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A480	HYPERCAR	1'33.781	0.029
3	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'33.800	0.048
4	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'33.807	0.055
5	Jakub Smiechowski Louis Deletraz Alex Brundle	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.979	0.227
6	Henrik Hedman Juan Pablo Montoya Ben Hayley	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.268	0.516
7	Philip Hanson Fabio Scherer Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.294	0.542
8	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Job Van Uitert	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.299	0.547
9	Sean Gelael Stoffel Vandoorne Tom Blomqvist	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.627	0.875
10	Esteban Garcia Mathias Beche Norman Nato	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.668	0.916
11	Robin Frijns Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.742	0.990
12	Ryan Briscoe Romain Dumas Richard Westbrook	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	HYPERCAR	1'34.789	1.037
13	Jan Magnussen Anders Fjordbach Dennis Andersen	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'35.019	1.267
14	Tatiana Calderon Sophia Flörsch Beitske Visser	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'36.074	2.322
15	Miro Konopka Oliver Webb Tom Jackson	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	1'36.453	2.701
16	Kevin Estre Neel Jani Michael Christensen	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'40.227	6.475
17	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'40.389	6.637
18	Daniel Serra Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'40.682	6.930
19	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'40.738	6.986
20	Christian Ried Jaxon Evans Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'41.202	7.450
21	Claudio Schiavoni Andrea Piccini Matteo Cressoni	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.426	7.674
22	Egidio Perfetti Matteo Cairoli Riccardo Pera	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'41.484	7.732
23	Paul Dalla Lana Augusto Farfus Marcos Gomes	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'41.495	7.743
24	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.575	7.823
25	Ben Keating Dylan Pereira Felipe Fraga	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'41.667	7.915
26	François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.728	7.976
27	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Manuela Gostner	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.768	8.016
28	Dominique Bastien Marco Seefried Julien Andlauer	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'41.787	8.035
29	Michael Wainwright Benjamin Barker Tom Gamble	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'41.791	8.039
30	Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.815	8.063
31	Takeshi Kimura Mikkel Jensen Scott Andrews	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'41.970	8.218
32	Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Andrew Watson	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'41.977	8.225
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