Porsche Tops Free Practice 1 at COTA

Photo: John Dagys

Porsche has shown the early pace in Texas, with the pair of 919 Hybrids going 1-2 in Thursday’s Free Practice 1 for the FIA WEC Six Hours of Circuit of The Americas.

The No. 18 Porsche of Romain Dumas was quickest in the 90-minute session, reeling off a best time of 1:47.231.

It was 0.283 seconds quicker than the No. 19 entry of Nurburgring winners Mark Webber, which was second.

The No. 8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro was third on the time sheets, followed by the pair of Toyota TS040 Hybrids, thanks in part to an issue for the No. 7 Audi, which was some six seconds off the pace in sixth.

KCMG led the way in LMP2, with Nicolas Lapierre’s No. 47 Oreca 05 outpacing the pair of ever-improving Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Hondas by a half second.

The No. 31 ESM machine of Johannes van Overbeek was second on the time sheets, followed by the Ryan Dalziel-driven No. 30 Ligier-Honda, with both cars showing a significant improvement in pace compared to recent races.

AF Corse (GTE-Pro) and Dempsey Proton Racing (GTE-Am) led the production-based ranks.

It wasn’t all clear sailing for the Italian squad, though, as the No. 51 Ferrari F458 Italia of Toni Vilander ground to a halt on track early, bringing out the session’s only Full Course Yellow.

Free Practice 2 gets underway at 8 p.m.

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