Nielsen Racing Fastest in FP1
Daytona 24 Winner Alex Quinn Fastest in First Session
The first free practice session of the 4 Hours of Dubai weekend was held under blue skies with the thermometer showing a very warm 25 degrees centigrade.
At the end of the 90-minute session the no64 Nielsen Racing Oreca was the fastest of the 46 entries, with Alex Quinn posting a 1m49.182 lap, 0.228s ahead of Giorgio Roda in the no5 United Autosports and a further tenth of a second ahead of the no88 Proton Competition after Lorenzo Fluxa posted a 1m49.537 best lap.
The no3 DKR Engineering was 4th fastest, just 0.002s behind Proton Competition and 0.092s ahead of the no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR. 4 Hours of Sepang double race winners Cetilar Racing were 6th fastest, 0.462s behind the Nielsen Oreca with Charles Milesi setting the best lap of 1m49.644.
The no23 23Events Racing Ligier was the quickest car in the 10 strong LMP3 field after Matteo Quintarelli set a benchmark lap of 1m57.399, over half a second ahead of the second placed no94 High Class Racing Ligier, with Callum Voisin posting the best lap of 1m57.981.
The no29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier of Luciano Morano was third quickest with a 1m58.337, 0.123s ahead of Julien Gerbi in the no1 Team Virage Liger. Championship leaders CLX Racing were 10th fastest in the opening session, 2.6 seconds behind 23Events Racing.
The 20 car GT field saw the tightest finish with the top four cars split by less than 0.1 seconds.
Reigning champions Manthey were fastest in FP1 with the no10 Porsche 911 setting the pace with a 1m59.997 lap time by Klaus Bachler, the only GT car to break the 2-minute barrier in the session. The no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG was second quickest, with Round 1 winner Fabian Schiller posting a 2m00.007 lap to finish just 0.01s behind the lead car.
The no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche was third fastest in the 20-car field, with Laurin Heinrich posting a 2m00.088 lap, just 0.005s ahead of championship leader Dennis Marschall in the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
Free Practice 2 will take place at 18h30 (local) later today.
CLICK HERE for the result from FP1 for the 4 Hours of Dubai.
