Thiriet by TDS Racing Throws Down The Gauntlet in First Practice

Mathias Beche in the Nissan powered no46 Oreca05 set a 1m31.637 lap, 0.668 seconds ahead of the no40 Krohn Racing Ligier of Olivier Pla and a further 0.090 seconds ahead of the no41 Greaves Motorsport Ligier.

Round 5 winners in the no21 Dragonspeed Oreca05-Nissan were 4^th fastest with Nico Lapierre setting a 1m32.801.  The only challengers to the no46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca, the no38 G-Drive Racing Gibson, were 7^th quickest and 2.4 seconds behind their French rivals.  An early trip into the gravel for Simon Dolan resulted in a quick trip to the pits after the British driver was extracted from the gravel trap under a Full Course Yellow.

The LMP3 class was headed by the no18 MRacing-YMR Ligier, with Yann Ehrlacher setting a 1m36.919 lap, just 0.049s ahead of the no10 Graff Ligier of sean Rayhall and 0.6 seconds in front of the 2016 championship winning car, the no2 United Autosports Ligier, with Alex Brundell setting a 1m37,517 lap time.

The no77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 of  Wolf Henzler leading the way in the LMGTE class, 0.039 seconds ahead of the no56 AT Racing Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi.  The two championship rivals were 4^th and 5^th fastest with the no99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Alex MacDowall finishing in front of the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Andrea Bertolini by 0.35 seconds.

Free Practice 2 will take place tomorrow morning at 08h00 (local)

CLICK HERE for the result from Free Practice 1