Audi top FP1 times at Silverstone
The waiting is over! The first official WEC session exploded into life at Silverstone this lunchtime to signal what is anticipated to be a classic fourth season of endurance racing.
Audi Sport Team Joest led the way in FP1 at Silverstone with the #8 R18 e-tron quattro driven by Lucas Di Grassi stopping the clocks on a 1m42.121.
The Brazilian eclipsed the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid by just 0.144s in the 90-minute session. With all of the leading six manufacturer cars lapping under last year’s pole time, the 2015 WEC is going to be faster and more exhilarating than ever.
André Lotterer claimed the best time for the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro with a 1m42.360s before handing over to team mates Benoît Tréluyer and then Marcel Fässler who completed the session.
The majority of the times were set early on in the session and with a few spots of rain falling halfway through; only the late-starting #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Neel Jani made a significant improvement in the final stages.
Reigning champions Toyota Racing placed fifth and sixth. Alex Wurz had initially set the pace in the first exchanges and his 1m42.749s in the #2 Toyota TS 040 HYBRID was 0.8s faster than the #1 sister car.
LMP2 saw the G-Drive Racing branded team claim a 1-2 with its brace of Ligier JS P2 coupes. Gustavo Yacaman set a best of 1m50.213s to just outpace Sam Bird’s best of 1m50.267s. The new ORECA 05 in the hands of Matt Howson was third.
The No.95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 was top of the timing screens in LMGTE Pro with Nicki Thiim setting the team early in the session.
Second in the LMGTE Pro class was the multiple title winning #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Gimmi Bruni. The Italian saved the best until last with his 2m01.680s coming right at the end of the session.
In LMGTE Am the Abu-Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR was best in class with rapid young German Klaus Bachler achieving the time of 2m02.350s.
The second Free Practice session gets underway at 15.55 local time.
You can follow all the action via the official WEC APP by click here - http://www.fiawec.com/app.html
