Van Uitert Sets Paul Ricard FP1 Pace for IDEC Sport

Job van Uitert set the pace for IDEC Sport in first practice for the second round of the European Le Mans Series season at Paul Ricard.

The Dutchman clocked a 1:50.086 aboard the No. 28 Oreca 07 Gibson to finish up 0.127 seconds clear of the opposition at the end of the 90-minute session.

Second fastest was former Formula 1 driver Jack Doohan at the wheel of the No. 24 Nielsen Racing entry with a 1:50.213 that was fractionally quicker than Matthieu Vaxiviere managed in the No. 83 AF Corse Oreca. Nevertheless, Vaxiviere’s 1:50.280 was still good enough to top the Pro-Am ranks.

Fourth fastest was Tom Dillmann in the pick of the Inter Europol Competition Orecas, the No. 43 machine, with a 1:50.294 while completing the top five was the No. 22 United Autosports entry thanks to a 1:50.361 from Gregoire Saucy.

One of the late driver changes for this weekend was Ferdinand Habsburg joining his Alpine FIA World Endurance Championship team-mate Charles Milesi at the wheel of the No. 47 CLX Oreca in place of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitor Felipe Fraga, and Habsburg finished up ninth in the Pro-Am class in FP1.

The LMP3 leaderboard was headed throughout by the No. 11 EuroInternational Ligier JS P325 Toyota of Max van der Snel, who reduced his benchmark to a 2:00.128.

Matteo Quintarelli did narrow the eventual deficit to 0.212 seconds aboard the No. 8 Team Virage Ligier, while Lenny Ried was third fastest with a 2:00.479 at the wheel of the No. 31 Racing Spirit of Leman entry.

Ferrari was the undoubted pacesetter in the LMGT3 ranks as five of the 296 GT3 Evos locked out the top six places on the timesheet.

Fastest was the No. 57 Kessel machine that finished third in the Barcelona opener as Daniel Serra logged a 2:03.164 very early into the session.

He ended up a quarter of a second faster than the best of the AF Corse Ferraris, the No. 51 of Conrad Laursen.

Third quickest was the No. 50 Richard Mille AF Corse entry of Riccardo Agostini with a 2:03.439 while the sole non-Ferrari in the top six was the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Marius Fossard that was in fourth with a 2:03.443.

Another late addition to the entry was Porsche factory driver and 2023 DTM champion Thomas Preining, who replaced Laurin Heinrich at the wheel of the No. 54 High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo with Heinrich another with WeatherTech Championship commitments. Preining guided the Porsche to seventh on the class leaderboard.

There were several brief full-course yellow interruptions to retrieve bollards and cones from the track, while debris was also recovered after a clash between PJ Hyett’s AO by TF Oreca and Takeshi Kimura’s Kessel Ferrari.

The session then came to an early end following a red flag with eight minutes left to go after the No. 7 Vector Sport Oreca of Jens Reno Moller encountered an issue and is being investigated for an unsafe release.

Second practice is due to take place on Saturday at 10:10 a.m. local time (4:10 a.m. ET), but a half-hour bronze driver test session is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1