Audi Tops Thursday Testing at COTA

Photo: John Dagys

Audi set the early pace at Circuit of The Americas Thursday, as testing kicked off on-track activities for the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The championship-leading No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro topped the time sheets in both two-hour sessions, with a 1:49.887 lap time set by Loic Duval in the afternoon standing as the quickest of the day.

Duval edged out the sister No. 1 Audi of Andre Lotterer by 0.202 seconds. Lotterer and co-drivers Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler are coming off victory in the recent Six Hours of Sao Paulo round.

Toyota, looking to bounce back after getting collected in an accident in Brazil, was a distant third on Thursday, with Sebastien Buemi setting a best time of 1:50.628 in the No. 8 Toyota TS030 Hybrid.

LMP2 was paced by the No. 26 G-Drive by Delta-ADR Oreca 03 Nissan of John Martin, who reeled off a 1:55.817 lap time in the afternoon.

The No. 24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan was second, thanks to Alex Brundle’s 1:56.591 lap time, while the No. 49 Pecom Racing Oreca Nissan completed the top-three in class.

Aston Martin Racing ended the day 1-2 in GTE-Pro, with Vantage V8 drivers setting the four best times in class.

Quickest was Fred Makowiecki, who recorded a 2:04.699 lap time in the No. 99 entry, carrying sponsorship from Texas-based oil giant Valero this weekend.

The No. 91 Porsche AG Team Manthey 911 RSR completed the top-three in class.

GTE-Am was led by the No. 81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia. Matteo Malucelli, pulling double duty this weekend between the WEC and ALMS paddock, turned a 2:05.969 in the orange-colored Prancing Horse.

Malucelli’s time was one of the few to hold up from the morning session. 8Star and fellow GTE-Am Ferrari squad Krohn Racing are the two American teams competing this weekend on home soil.

RESULTS: Test Session 1
RESULTS: Test Session 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John