ELMS Silverstone - Free Practice 1

In LMP2, the premier class of the championship, it was easy to see this morning that the battle in the category will be tight.  Indeed, every one of the 11 teams has both the desire and the fierce passion needed to be at the front and lead the way.  This morning, despite good lap times set by the No.43  NewBlood by Morand Racing Morgan Judd, it was ultimately young Harry Tincknell driving the No.38 Jota Sport Zytek Nissan Z11SN (winner of the race last year) who finished ahead at the close of the  first free practice session.   Christian Klien (No.43) was in second place, just 0.025s from the head of the timesheets.  Following in the steps of Jota were two further British cars in third and fourth places.  Both of Greaves Motorsport's Zytek Z11SN Nissans – Nos.28 and 41, were within a tenth of a second of each other (1:51.746 and 1:51.816).

The 13 entries in LMGTE will have to face the underlying domination of Ferrari which, this morning, took the first three places in the classification.  2013 GTC Champion, SMP Racing, this year has one entry in the upper GTE class and it is determined to show that it is capable of the step up.  Its No.72 Ferrari 458 Italia, in the hands of Italian driver Andrea Bertolini, set the fastest time this morning of 2:00.255.  Matt Griffin, 2013 LMGTE ELMS champion took second place at the wheel of the No.55 AF Corse Ferrari, 0.538 seconds from first place.  He, in turn, was ahead of a third Ferrari, the No.66 JMW Motorsport entry of George Richardson by less than two tenths of a second (2:00.961).

In GTC this morning three different manufacturers took the first three places which was a good start for the category with the most entries on the grid.  While Ferrari dominated the class with the No.71 SMP Racing F458 Italia GT3 in the hands of Luca Persiani at the head, it was the Pro Gt by Almeras Porsche, newcomers to the championship, which took second place.  Franck Perrera set a lap time of 2:01.528, 0.429 seconds from Italian.  Third position was occupied by a new manufacturer for this year, the No.98 McLaren MP4 12C GT3 of French team ART Grand Prix.  Kevin Korjus ended the session less than a tenth of a second from the No.2 ... a hotly contested category was expected and the teams and drivers in contention have already begun already to prove that's what it will be.

The second free practice session will begin at 14:10 for a period of 90 minutes.