DragonSpeed 1-2 in Opening Practice at Red Bull Ring

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

DragonSpeed has swept the first official Free Practice session for the Four Hours of Red Bull Ring, with Nicolas Lapierre going to the top in the 90-minute session on Friday afternoon.

The Frenchman lapped the Austrian circuit in 1:20.588 in the No. 21 Oreca 07 Gibson, while the sister G-Drive Racing-backed car set the second-fastest time, less than three-tenths down.

Graff was the best of the rest in third, with its Oreca driven by Enzo Guibbert, while the highest-placed Ligier JS P217 Gibson was the IDEC Sport Racing car of Olivier Pla.

Andrea Belicchi drove Cetilar Villorba Corse’s Dallara P217 Gibson to fifth place and the best-placed of the Italian chassis.

Dario Capitiano took Oregon Team to the top of the LMP3 class as the No. 10 Norma M30 Nissan outpaced a group of Ligier JS P3 Nissans by 0.314 seconds.

Wayne Boyd and Mikkel Jensen took second and third position in class, driving the United Autosports and AT Racing Ligiers respectively.

Proton Competition’s Matteo Cairoli was the fastest GTE driver in the German team’s Porsche 911 RSR, just 0.015 seconds clear of the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE driven by Nicki Thiim.

Free Practice 2 will take place at 9:25 a.m. local time, followed by 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.