Algarve Pro Quickest on Opening Barcelona Test Day

James Allen topped the opening day of pre-season testing ahead of the European Le Mans Series season opener at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Australian driver set the quickest time of the day during the opening session, steering the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 Gibson to a lap of 1:29.691.

Allen’s time stood as the quickest of the day throughout the remainder of Wednesday’s running, which saw track action split into two four-hour sessions in the morning and afternoon before concluding with a two-hour night session.

The night session saw limited action, as only eleven out of 42 cars took to the circuit.

Panis Racing’s Job van Uitert came in second, 0.499 seconds down on Allen, with Cool Racing’s Malthe Jakobsen in third.

The Dane, piloting the No. 37 Oreca 07 Gibson, set the fastest LMP2 Pro-Am time of the day in the process in the car he shares with Nicolas Lapierre and Bronze-rated Alexandre Coigny.

All of the runners in the day’s top five set their times during the morning session, with the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca of Paul-Loup Chatin fourth with a best lap of 1:30.633 to remain ahead of Racing Team Turkey driver Louis Deletraz by 0.003 seconds.

Sixth-placed Ben Barnicoat, piloting the No. 83 AF Corse Oreca, set his quickest time of 1:30.799 in the afternoon session and ranked sixth.

He outpaced the second Cool Racing entry of Reshad de Gerus, as well as Dragonspeed’s Juan Pablo Montoya and Algarve Pro Racing’s Pro-Am entry in the hands of Tristan Vautier.

Nelson Piquet Jr. came tenth aboard the No. 21 United Autosports Oreca, becoming the only driver in the top ten to set his quickest time during the night session.

The LMP3 category was led by the No. 17 Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Marcos Siebert.

The Argentinean driver set a time of 1:36.406 to go quickest, 0.021 seconds clear of the No. 7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Ryan Harper-Ellam.

Glenn van Berlo clocked the third-quickest time of the day during the night session, slotting into the top three by posting a 1:36.522 in the No. 10 Eurointernational car.

Manuel Espirito Santo came in third for Team Virage, ahead of Racing Spirit of Leman and DKR Engineering.

Porsche teams occupied the top two positions in the GTE class, which was headed by the No. 60 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Matteo Cairoli.

The Italian’s best effort of 1:40.611 was enough to outpace the No. 77 Proton Competition Porsche of Julien Andlauer by 0.053 seconds.

Jon Lancaster came third aboard the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, with Formula Racing’s Conrad Laursen and Richard Lietz aboard the No. 93 Proton Porsche completing the top five.

The second and final day of testing on Thursday will see a combined seven hours of track time, kicking off at 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Morning Session/Afternoon Session/Night Session