Lotterer Leads Audi 1-2 in Free Practice 1 at Shanghai

Photo: Vincent Wouters

Audi has topped the time charts in the first Free Practice for Sunday’s FIA WEC Six Hours of Shanghai.

The No. 7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer reeled off a best time of 1:45.707 early in the 90-minute session, outpacing the sister No. 8 entry of Lucas Di Grassi by 0.645 seconds.

LMP1 championship rivals Porsche failed to set representative times, with the 919 Hybrids eight-tenths and 1.2 seconds slower than the diesel-powered Audis in the session.

KCMG led the way in LMP2, with Richard Bradley posting a best time of 1:55.069 in the team’s rebuilt No. 47 Oreca 05 Nissan.

The Hong Kong-backed team edged out the Fuji class-winning No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan by less than one-tenth.

Porsche Team Manthey led GTE-Pro, with the pair of Porsche 911 RSRs outpacing the No. 99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 by nearly one second.

The three quickest cars in GTE-Am, meanwhile, were separated by only 0.036 seconds, with the No. 50 Larbre Competition Corvette C7.R on top.

There were no major incidents reported in the session, which started more than 15 minutes late due to track conditions.

Free Practice 2 gets underway at 3:30 p.m. local.

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