Championship leaders VDS Panis Racing set the pace in the first Free Practice session at Silverstone, with their nearest rivals for the 2025 ELMS title, Inter Europol Competition, finishing second fastest by five hundredths of a second.
Esteban Masson posted the fastest lap early in the 90-minute session, the French driver’s lap of 1m43.485 in the no48 Oreca 0.051s faster than Nick Yelloly’s best time in the no43 Oreca-Gibson. The no47 CLX Motorsport was third quickest, four tenths behind the two leading cars with Enzo Fittipaldi posting a 1m43.932 which was 0.357s ahead of the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton.
The no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca was the faster of the eight LMP2 Pro/Am entrants with Sergio Cette Camara setting a best lap of 1m44.636, 0.116s ahead of the championship leading no20 Algarve Pro Racing of Alex Quinn, with both cars 7th and 8th fastest overall respectively.
The LMP3 class was also very close at the top of the time sheets, with the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine heading the times by just 0.012 seconds. Griffin Peebles put in the best lap for the class with a 1m53.947, with the no15 RLR MSport Ligier in second spot and the championship leading no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier in third 0.4 seconds behind the lead cars, despite a trip into the gravel for Theodor Jensen early in the session.
It was a Porsche 1-2 in LMGT3 led by the no85 Iron Dames 911, with the no60 Proton Competition Porsche in second spot.Michelle Gatting posted the fastest LMGT3 with a 2m00.112, 0.104s ahead of Matteo Cressoni.
The no82 TF Sport Corvette was third fastest with Charlie Eastwood’s time of 2m00.282 keeping close contact with the two Porsches. In fact, the top 12 LMGT3 cars were split by just 0.963s at the end of the 90-minute session.
CLICK HERE for the result from FP1 for the Goodyear 4 hours of Silverstone.
