IDEC Sport Leads Opening Barcelona Practice

Paul-Loup Chatin set the fastest lap in opening practice for the 4 Hours of Barcelona, the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series season.

Chatin reeled off a lap of 1:35.757 behind the wheel of the No. 28 Oreca 07 Gibson, which won the previous round at Monza.

The Frenchman’s flyer came within the opening few minutes of the session, knocking AF Corse’s Alessio Rovera off the top spot.

Rovera was subsequently dropped down to third by Algarve Pro Racing’s Bent Viscaal before coming to a halt on track after just seven minutes of the session were completed, causing a full course yellow.

The No. 83 Oreca completed no further laps once the session resumed, but Rovera’s 1:35.887 would remain the third-fastest time.

He remained ahead of Cool Racing’s Yifei Ye, Racing Team Turkey’s Jack Aitken and championship leader Ferdinand Habsburg aboard the No. 9 Prema Oreca.

Ben Hanley took seventh for Nielsen Racing, with Alex Peroni eighth in Algarve Pro Racing’s Pro-Am entry.

The 90-minute session was later again interrupted, this time by a red flag for ninth-placed David Heinemeier Hansson.

The Dane, driving the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, went off at turn nine but the car returned to the pits without major damage.

The top ten was rounded out by Panis Racing’s Nico Jamin, who was just under a second down on compatriot Chatin.

LMP3 was led by Nico Pino aboard the No. 13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 Nissan, who set a 1:41.527 to lead 360 Racing’s Ross Kaiser by 0.210s.

Pino brought out a second and final red flag in the closing minutes of the session after spinning at turn 4, but sustained no damage.

Marco Sorensen, meanwhile, set the quickest time in GTE aboard the No. 69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR.

Sorensen’s best effort of 1:45.477 came in the opening minutes of the session, leaving him a mere 0.011 seconds clear of Frederik Schandorff’s No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

Alessio Picariello completed the top three for Absolute Racing in the No. 18 Porsche 911 RSR-19, leaving all three marques represented at the head of the class.

Free practice 2 for the 4 Hours of Barcelona kicks off on Saturday at 11:10 a.m. CEST (5:10 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Practice 1