Cadillac Leads Aston Martin in Delayed COTA FP1

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA set the pace ahead of Aston Martin in a delayed and red flag-impacted opening practice session for this weekend’s Lone Star Le Mans round of the FIA World Endurance Championship on Friday.

Fresh from its victory in July’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, Will Stevens set the fastest time of 1:53.584 aboard the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R in a 90-minute session that was effectively pushed back by nearly a full hour owing to GPS issues in race control.

The Heart of Racing’s No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie was second-fastest in the hands of Harry Tincknell, only 0.129 seconds off the pace, while Robert Kubica was third in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.

Although the session began on schedule at 11:30 a.m. local time, it was red-flagged when the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 suffered an MGU failure at stopped on-track.

The session then did not resume until 12:30 p.m., with its conclusion subsequently being delayed to just after 2 p.m.

Most of the fast laps came immediately after the first and longest stoppage, with Alex Riberas going fourth-fastest in the No. 009 Aston Martin.

The two works Ferrari 499Ps were up next, with Antonio Giovinazzi in the championship-leading No. 51 car leading the No. 50 of Nicklas Nielsen, who was among a handful of runners to improve in the closing minutes of the session.

Also improving late on was Charles Milesi in the No. 35 Alpine A424, putting that car seventh ahead of the No. 20 BMW, the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 and the No. 36 Alpine.

Two more red flags followed the initial stoppage, the first of which came when Derek DeBoer suffered a crash at Turns 4/5 aboard the No. 10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

Another red flag was shown when Alex Lynn spun the pace-setting No. 12 Cadillac, while a fourth was shown with just over a minute left on the clock due to an incident involving the No. 20 BMW, which effectively brought the session to an end.

Both Toyota and Porsche had low-key sessions, with the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids ending up 11th and 12th and the two works Porsche Penske Motorsport entries 14th and 15th.

In LMGT3, TF Sport’s pair of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs locked out the top two positions, with Dani Juncadella setting the pace in the No. 33 car.

Juncadella logged a best time of 2:07.037 to eclipse his opposite number in the No. 81 Corvette, Charlie Eastwood, by 0.057 seconds.

Eastwood came to a stop in the entrance of the pit lane in the closing stages of the session due to a front suspension issue, coinciding with the final red flag.

Third fastest was the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Marino Sato, followed by the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R of Michelle Gatting.

Second practice had been scheduled for 4 p.m. CST but has been pushed back to 4:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. EST) following the delays to FP1.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1