Bamber Tops Free Practice 1 at COTA

Photo: Porsche

Earl Bamber led a Porsche 1-2 in opening Free Practice for this weekend’s Six Hours of Circuit of The Americas.

The FIA World Endurance Championship leader reeled off a 1:48.124 to edge out the sister No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Andre Lotterer, Nick Tandy and Neel Jani by 0.145 seconds.

It marked another sweep for the German manufacturer, which appears to again hold the upper hand over Toyota heading into the fifth round of the season.

The No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, featuring Stephane Sarrazin this weekend, was nearly a half-second adrift, with a best lap of 1:48.584.

The car, in the hands of Sebastien Buemi, slowed early in the 90-minute session but continued to set the third quickest time.

LMP2 was led by the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Alex Lynn, with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 in GTE-Pro, topped by Stefan Muecke.

Pedro Lamy, meanwhile, recorded the quickest time in GTE-Am in his No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE.

Free Practice 2 is set for 4:30 p.m. CT.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John