Christopher Haase set the quickest time during Free Practice 1 for the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai, taking his Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to the top of the timesheets on Thursday morning.
The German posted a best time of 1:58.955 midway through the 60-minute session, leading two other Audis to lock out the top three positions for the German manufacturer.
Haase shares his No. 88 car with Frederic Vervisch, Rik Breukers and Dimitri Parhofer.
Kelvin van der Linde placed second in his Attempto Racing-run Audi, lapping three-tenths slower than his fellow factory driver.
BWT Muecke Motorsport’s Audi placed third in the lead A6-Pro class but was fourth overall, lapping slightly slower than the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo in the SPX class.
Target Racing led the way in A6-Am, while Thomas Tekaat topped the GT4 field with his MRS-GT Racing BMW M4 GT4.
A Code 60 was brought out during the session to retrieve the No. 701 Vortex V8 of Alban Varutti who went off on the back straight.
Marcus Jewell’s track-club Porsche 991-I Cup had a separate incident during the Code 60 period.
Free Practice 2 will get underway at 1 p.m. local time, with GT qualifying at 4:15 p.m.
RESULTS: Free Practice 1