The no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson was the fastest of the 44 entrants in the first Free Practice session for the 4 Hours of Barcelona. Tom Dillmann was the quickest driver with a 1m29.333 lap around the 4.657km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Matteo Cairoli in the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton was second fastest and the only other driver to post a best time under 1m30, with the 1m29.739 lap being 0.4 seconds behind the leader. The no37 CLX-Pure Rxcing and no18 IDEC Sport were third and fourth fastest respectively with Tom Blomqvist setting a 1m30.012, just 0.006s ahead of Mathys Jaubert in the fourth placed car.
The LMP2 Pro/Am category was headed by the no77 Proton Competition with Bent Viscaal’s lap of 1m30.429 good enough for 7th overall and 0.266s ahead of the second fastest Pro/Am entry, the no20 Algarve Pro Racing with Alex Quinn posting the best lap in the car.
Former champions CLX Motorsport headed the LMP3 category with the no17 Ligier JS P325-Toyota of Adrien Closmenil setting the pace in the junior LMP category with a 1m37.536, 0.219s ahead of the no31 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier driven by Marius Fossard and a further 0.043s ahead of the third fastest car, the no8 Team Virage Ligier of Rik Koen.
It was a Ferrari 1-2 in the LMGT3 category with the no50 Richard Mille AF Corse 296 heading the field and the no 57 Kessel Racing in second spot.The lead car, driven by Riccardo Agostini, posted a 1m40.985, 0.198s ahead of Daniel Serra in the Kessel Ferrari.
The no60 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alessio Picariello was third fastest with a 1m41.849, the Belgian’s best lap being 0.045s ahead of the fourth placed car at the end of the 90-minute session, the no63 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of reigning champions Iron Lynx of Fabian Schiller.
The second Free Practice session will take place tomorrow morning at 10h10.
CLICK HERE for the result from FP1
