Allen Sweeps Barcelona Pre-Season Testing

James Allen completed a sweep of European Le Mans Series pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya by setting the fastest time for the second day in a row.

Allen piloted the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 Gibson to a best lap of 1:30.223 on Thursday, posting his time in the morning session.

His time failed to match the 1:29.691 he set the day before, which stood as the quickest time across both days of running.

Running on the second day of testing was limited to two sessions compared to three on Wednesday, with four hours in the morning and an additional three hours in the afternoon.

Jonathan Aberdein slotted into second place aboard the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, with the South African’s best time of 1:30.763 down on Allen by 0.540 seconds.

Nelson Piquet Jr. came third for United Autosports. His time of 1:30.818 was the quickest LMP2 Pro-Am time, with DragonSpeed’s Sebastian Montoya fourth overall and second in the class for entries with a Bronze-rated driver.

Job van Uitert completed the top five for Panis Racing, which is heading into the season after finishing runner-up in last year’s LMP2 standings.

Jose Maria Lopez ended the day sixth aboard the No. 47 Cool Racing Oreca, with IDEC Sport’s Paul-Loup Chatin and Guatemalan Team Virage driver Ian Rodriguez rounding out the top eight.

Ryan Harper-Ellam set the quickest time in LMP3, posting a 1:36.403 aboard the No. 7 Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Harper-Ellam’s effort stood as the quickest lap in class across the two days of testing as it was a mere 0.003 seconds ahead of the time Marcos Siebert set to top the class on Wednesday.

Siebert himself ended the second day of running third quickest, with his No. 17 Cool Racing Ligier slotting in behind Eurointernational’s Glenn van Berlo.

The GTE class was led by the No. 50 Formula Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Mikkel Mac with a best lap of 1:40.755.

Nicki Thiim was was 0.185 seconds behind aboard the No. 44 GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR, with Ulysse de Pauw competing the top three for AF Corse.

The opening Free Practice session for the 4 Hours of Barcelona takes place Friday at 11:50 a.m. local time (5:50 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Morning Session/Afternoon Session