Lapierre Puts DragonSpeed on Top in FP1

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Nicolas Lapierre set the fastest lap time in Free Practice 1 on Friday afternoon for the Four Hours of Le Castellet, with the two DragonSpeed cars finishing in first and third.

The Frenchman set a lap time of 1:54.234 in his No. 21 Oreca 07 Gibson he shares with Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley, while the sister G-Drive Racing-backed car was third with Nicolas Minassian at the wheel.

They were separated by the No. 39 Graff car of Enzo Guibbert, with Orecas filling the top three positions in the first on-track session at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The SMP Racing Dallara P217 Gibson came fourth, ahead of the fastest Ligier JS P217 Gibson of United Autosports in fifth. 

The two Ligier JS P3 Nissans of RLR MSport and 360 Racing occupied the top two positions in the LMP3 class, separated by 0.103 seconds.

M.Racing – YMR’s car was the best-placed Norma M30 Nissan, meanwhile, lapping the French circuit seven-tenths slower.

While Spirit of Race went fastest in GTE with Andrea Bertolini in its No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE, the Aston Martin Vantage GTEs of TF Sport and Beechdean AMR separated the AF Corse-run Ferrari from its sister car in fourth.

Free Practice 2 will get underway at 9:25 a.m. local time on Saturday, ahead of qualifying at 1:45 p.m.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.