Wet Start to the Road To Le Mans

DC Racing Sets the Pace in LMP3

The LMP3 class was headed by the no 85 DC Racing Ligier Nissan of Thomas Laurent and Alexandre Cougnaud, with Laurent setting a 4:05.758 lap right at the end of the session and an impressive 4.128s ahead of the no61 Graff Ligier-Nissan of Britain’s James Winslow and Australian Dean Koutsoumidis with a 4m09.886 set by the British driver.  The no18 M Racing-YMR Ligier of Yann Ehrlacher and Romano Ricci was third quickest with Ehrlacher setting a 4m10.026 on the last lap of Free Practice 1.

The time was 0.2 seconds ahead of the sole Ginetta on the entry list, the no32 Ginetta-Nissan of British duo Lawrence Tomlinson and reigning European Le Mans Series LMP3 champion Charlie Robertson.  The no2 United Autosports Ligier Nissan of Martin Brundle and Christian England was fifth quickest, with Brundle setting a 4m12.602 lap in the tricky conditions on the 13.6 km La Sarthe circuit.

AF Corse Ferrari Holds Top Spot in GT3 after Free Practice

The no57 AF Corse Ferrari F488 of Aleksey Basov and Viktor Shaitar posted the quickest time in the GT3 class, with Shaitar setting a 4m15.418 lap, which was good enough for 6^th place overall and six tenths ahead of the second placed car the no17 Duqueine Engineering Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 of Christophe Hamon and Lonni Martins.  The first of the regular Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup runners was the no88 Mentos Racing Porsche 911 of Egidio Perfetti and Klaus Bachler, with Bachler setting a 4m17.763 lap, 2.3 seconds adrift of the lead Ferrari.

The next track session for the Road To Le Mans competitors will be tomorrow at 14h30 for the second Free Practice session, followed by qualifying at 18h00 to decide the grid for the 55-minute race on Saturday morning.

CLICK HERE for the results from Free Practice 1