The opening day of the two-day ELMS Official Test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya saw the competitors take to the track in three sessions, with ten hours of testing available at the Spanish circuit.
James Allen was the fastest driver of the day, the Australian posting a 1m29.691 lap in the morning session in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca-Gibson.Allen was the only driver to post a sub one minute thirty second lap in all three sessions.
The no65 Panis Racing Oreca-Gibson was the second fastest car on Day 1, with Job Van Uitert setting a 1m30.190 lap, 0.499s behind the fastest car and 0.252s ahead of Malthe Jakobsen in the no37 Cool Racing Oreca, which was the fastest LMP2 Pro/Am entry.
Both times were set in the morning session, as were the next two fastest times, 1m30.633 for the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca of Paul Loup Chatin and 1m30.639 for reigning champion Louis Deletraz in the no34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca, which was also the second fastest LMP2 Pro/Am car.
The fastest lap of the afternoon session was set by Ben Barnicoat in the LMP2 Pro/Am entered no83 AF Corse Oreca, the British drivers time of 1m30.799 was good enough for 6th fastest of the day.The no22 United Autosports Oreca of Marino Sato was second quickest in the second session, just 0.004s behind Barnicoat’s lap and just 0.004s ahead of Paul Loup Chatin in the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca.
The no47 Cool Racing Oreca of Reshad De Gerus, the no81 Dragonspeed USA Oreca of Juan Pablo Montoya and the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Tristan Vautier round out the top 10 cars.
Only six cars took part in the final two hour session of the day with the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca setting the fastest lap with a 1m30.786, eight tenths slower than the best of the day. The fastest Pro/Am car was the no21 United Autosports Oreca with a 1m31.102 lap.
The no17 Cool Racing Ligier was the fastest car in the LMP3 category in both the morning and afternoon sessions with Marcos Siebert at the wheel.The Argentine driver set a 1m36.406 in the morning, which was nearly three tenths faster than his session best time of 1m36.698 in the afternoon.
The second quickest car was the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Ryan Harper-Ellam, the British driver posting the second-best class time in both the morning and afternoon, with the earlier lap of 1m36.427 being the best, just 0.021s behind Siebert.
Three LMP3 cars ventured on track for the final two hour session with the no10 Eurointernational Ligier of Glenn Van Berlo posting the best category lap time of 1:36.522, which was fast enough to be placed third at the end of the day.
The no8 Team Virage Ligier of Manuel Espirito Santo was placed fourth at the end of the day, the Portuguese drivers best of 1m36.565 was 0.260s faster than the fifth placed car, the no31 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier of Antoine Doquin. Oscar Tunjo was sixth fastest and the quickest Duqueine M30-D08 at the end of the day with a 1m37.191 lap.
Porsche finished the day in the top two places, with the no60 Iron Lynx entered 911 RSR-19 setting the best lap of the day in the morning with Matteo Cairoli at the wheel. The Italian set a 1m40.611, 0.053s ahead of reigning champions Proton Competition, with Julien Andlauer lapping in 1m40.664 in the no77 Porsche.
JMW Motorsport were third quickest with former ELMS LMP2 Champion Jon Lancaster lapping the Ferrari 488 GTE EVO in 1m40.778.
Conrad Laursen was the quickest of the LMGTE competitors in the afternoon for 2015 ELMS LMGTE Championship winning team Formula Racing.The Danish driver’s 1m40.935 lap put the Ferrari in 4thspot at the end of the day.
The no93 Proton Competition 911 was 5th fastest with Ricard Lietz at the wheel, the Austrian’s time of 1m41.126 0.159s ahead of the no16 Proton Competition Porsche of 2020 LMGTE Champion Alessio Picariello. The no44 GMB Motorsport Vantage was the fastest of the three Aston Martins, with former FIA World Champion Nicki Thiim posting a 1m41.313 lap.
The evening session saw two cars out on track, with the no93 Proton Competition Porsche setting the session best time for the LMGTE category of 1m41.450.
CLICK HERE for the result from Day One of the ELMS Official Test.
