Ferrari Sets the Pace in COTA First Practice

Ferrari set the pace in the first Free Practice for this weekend’s Lone Star Le Mans event as the FIA World Endurance Championship returned from its summer break with Antonio Giovinazzi heading a Prancing Horse 1-2.

Giovinazzi clocked a 1:53.824 aboard the No. 51 Ferrari 499P in the opening third of the 90-minute session to set a benchmark that was three-tenths adrift of the quickest time from FP1 at this event last year.

Temperatures were significantly cooler in Austin than they had been on Thursday, with cloudy conditions meaning a high of only 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) was reached.

The sister factory Ferrari was second quickest, with Antonio Fuoco posting a 1:54.029 in the No. 50 machine to finish up two-tenths shy of his teammate.

Ferrari’s closest challenger ended up being the No. 36 Alpine A424 of Victor Martins, who was one of the few drivers to improve in the final 30 minutes of the session to finish on a 1:54.223.

The pair of Toyota TR010s were evenly matched with the No. 8 machine of Ryo Hirakawa fourth quickest on a 1:54.321.

The second Alpine of Charles Milesi ended up splitting the two Toyotas with a late improvement to a 1:54.336, which left the No. 7 machine of Nyck de Vries sixth on a 1:54.395.

Next up was the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber on a 1:54.427, which was a tenth faster than Marco Sorensen managed aboard the best of the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyries.

Ninth went to the No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 of Matthieu Jaminet on 1:54.590, while the top-ten was completed by the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 of Malthe Jakobsen with a 1:54.704 set in the final five minutes.

The only brand without a car inside the top-ten was BMW, which arrived at the Circuit of The Americas just five points adrift of manufacturers’ points lead.

The best time from one of the BMW M Hybrid V8s was a 1:55.131 from Raffaele Marciello aboard the No. 15 car, which was only good enough for 15th.

The No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo set the pace in the LMGT3 division as Tom Fleming was one of the few drivers to improve in the final 20 minutes of the session.

The overwhelming majority of the quick laps were set in the opening half hour as the pro drivers began the session, but FIA Silver-rated Fleming posted a 2:06.016 late on to set a benchmark that was over a second faster than the best time from the equivalent COTA session last year.

However, the class has switched from Goodyear’s Hard compound to the Medium for this weekend’s event.

It had looked like the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maxime Martin would set the LMGT3 pace thanks to a 2:06.293 lap but he had to settle for second.

Martin ended up fractionally faster than the second No. 58 McLaren of Finn Gehrsitz, who was another late improver as he posted a 2:06.327.

The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Alessio Rovera was fourth on a 2:06.556, which was fractionally faster than the best of the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evos, as Eduardo Barrichello clocked a 2:06.584 aboard the No. 23 machine.

Barrichello was in turn two-tenths faster than the sixth-placed No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Logan Sargeant, who managed a 2:06.778 on home soil to ensure there were five different brands represented in the first six places.

A number of drivers received five-minute stop-and-hold penalties for repeated track-limits offenses, including two such sanctions for Sargeant and Martin Berry in the No. 61 Mercedes-AMG.

There was only one interruption to the session with a brief Full Course Yellow required in the opening 15 minutes to retrieve debris, believed to be from a marker board, at Turn 6.

The second practice session is due to begin at 4 p.m. CST.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1