ELMS Official Test Session - Session n°1

Leading by example in terms of outright speed, and demonstrating his not inconsiderable experience, is former F1 driver Christian Klien in the No.43 Morgan Judd of Newblood by Morand Racing (with Hirsch-Brandela).  The Austrian set a fastest lap of 1:48.764 to finish over half a second ahead of the No.36 Signatech Alpine A450 Nissan of Chatin-Panciatici-Webb, the 2013 Champions having had a somewhat troubled time due to contact from a GTE car sending the LMP2 into the guardrail in the second of the 5-hour session.  Third in class was the No.46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Morgan Nissan in the hands of LudovicBadey with a quickest lap of 1:49.539.Ferrari was dominant in LMGTE, the Prancing Horse marque filling the first five places in the class.  The No.55 AF Corse entry of Griffin-Cameron-Rugoloset the benchmark time of 1:56.330, the Italian Ferrari 458 Italia in the hands of Michele Rugolojust 0.04s ahead of the No.72 SMP Racing Russian entry of Bertolini-Shaitar-Zlobin.  Third in class was the other AF Corse entry in the category, the No.54 of Perazzini-Cioci-Lyons.  Its fastest lap of 1:56.650 was only 0.04s ahead of the fourth-placed Ferrari, the No.58 of Team SOFREV ASP - the times demonstrating how close the competition is going to be in the class.GTC was Porsche-Ferrari-Ferrari at the chequered flag.  The No.93 Pro GT by Almeras Porsche 997 GT3R led the way, in the hands of Franck Perera  with a fastest lap of 1:57.089, two tenths of a second ahead of the Nos.64 and 60 Ferraris.  These were respectively the AF Corse F458 Italia of Pier Guidi-Kruglyk-Chukanov and the Danish-crewed Formula Racing entry of 2013 ALMS GT Champion Jan Magnussen, Laursen and Mac Jensen.A further four hours of testing will begin at 14h00 this afternoon.