Bernhard Leads Porsche 1-2 in FP1 at Silverstone

Photo: John Dagys

Porsche has gotten its FIA World Endurance Championship title defense off to a strong start, with its pair of 919 Hybrids topping the time charts in opening Free Practice for Sunday’s Six Hours of Silverstone.

Timo Bernhard led the way in the damp 90-minute session, reeling off a best lap of 1:42.182 in the No. 1 car.

Bernhard’s time was 0.812 seconds quicker than the sister No. 2 Porsche of Marc Lieb in second.

The No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson was third quickest overall and in LMP1, thanks to a 1:43.765 lap. The car, however, slowed on the final moments of the session with a suspected issue.

The No. 8 Audi R18 and No. 6 Toyota completed the top-five in the relatively incident-free session, despite less-than-ideal conditions.

G-Drive Racing was quickest in LMP2, with Rene Rast reeling off a 1:50.428 in his No. 26 Oreca 05 Nissan.

The No. 35 Baxi DC Racing Oreca Nissan and No. 43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier JS P2 Nissan completed the top-three in class.

Ferrari led the way in both GTE-Pro and GTE-Am, with AF Corse’s new Ferrari 488 GTE topping the time charts with a 2:01.067 lap by Gianmaria Bruni in the No. 51 car.

AF Corse’s previous-generation No. 83 Ferrari 458 Italia of Rui Aguas, meanwhile, led GTE-Am.

Free Practice 2 gets underway at 4:30 p.m. local time.

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