United Autosports Fastest on Thursday in Abu Dhabi

The No. 23 United Autosports Ligier JS P3 of Richard Meins, Shaun Lynn and Alex Lynn was the fastest car at the Yas Marina Circuit on the first day of the Gulf 12 Hours weekend.

The fastest lap time of 2:06.879, set almost half an hour into the second free practice session, was 1.326 seconds faster than that of the No. 24 Graff Ligier JS P3 of Eric Trouillet, Adrien Chila, Fabrice Rossello and Alexandre Cougnaud.

All four LMP3 cars competing in Abu Dhabi this weekend finished the day within three seconds of each other, taking the top four positions.

The 2015 victors, Michael Broniszewski, Giacomo Piccini and Davide Rigon, ended the day fifth quicket, just 0.093s behind the fourth fastest LMP3. The No. 11 Kessel Racing Ferrrari 488 GT3 was over six-tenths faster than the next best GT entry.

Dragon Racing was second fastest in GT at the end of the day, despite suffering mechanical problems early in the opening practice session.

The No. 88 Ferrari 488 GT3 was taken back to the pits and rejoined later in the session.

In the end, 24 cars took part in the two practice sessions today, with Dragon Racing and Brookspeed both withdrawing one of their entered Porsche Cayman GT4 cars.

Both cars are in the paddock, as are several other cars that were initially entered for the sixth edition of the race, including the MRS GT Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and the team’s Porsche 991 Cup cars.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1
RESULTS: Free Practice 2