Quinn Puts Algarve Pro On Top in First Dubai Practice

Alex Quinn put Algarve Pro Racing on top in opening practice for this weekend’s 4 Hours of Dubai Asian Le Mans Series double-header.

Quinn posted the best time of 1:47.199 aboard the No. 20 Oreca 07 Gibson at the halfway point of the 90-minute session, immediately before a red flag interruption caused by two GT cars coming to blows at Turn 3.

The incident involved Klaus Bachler in the No. 10 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R and Jeema Ruffali in the No. 19 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo — no injuries were reported but both cars needed to be retrieved by marshals.

Quinn’s best time was enough to shade James Allen in the championship-leading No. 30 RD Limited Oreca by just 0.079 seconds.

Olivier Pla went third in the No. 50 AF Corse car, 0.750 seconds behind Quinn, leading a three-four for the Italian team ahead of Matthieu Vaxiviere’s sister No. 83 machine.

Early efforts from Tom Dillmann in the No. 22 Proton Competition Oreca and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 24 Nielsen Racing machine were good for fifth and sixth respectively.

In the LMP3 class, Ian Aguilera set the early pace in the No. 15 RLR MSport Ligier JS P320 Nissan with a lap of 1:55.367, good enough to top the session by just under a tenth from Kevin Rabin’s No. 43 Inter Europol Competition entry.

Third-fastest was newcomer Thomas Kiefer in the No. 49 High Class Racing Ligier.

Lucas Auer led the way in GT with a 1:58.789, which put the No. 14 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo more than six tenths clear of the field.

Marvin Kirchhoefer was second-fastest in the No. 77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, followed by Daniel Serra’s CarGuy Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

Joel Sturm’s best time for Manthey was still good enough for fourth despite the incident that curtailed that car’s session, ahead of Maro Engel’s No. 16 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and the second Kessel Racing-run Ferrari of Dustin Blattner.

Car Collection Motorsport’s No. 21 Porsche meanwhile has been withdrawn from the event following a crash in private testing on Thursday, reducing the field to 45 cars for the remainder of the weekend.

Practice for the 4H Dubai continues with FP2 at 4:45 p.m. local time (7:45 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Free Practice 1