Le Mans Series

LMS Spa 1000 km - First practice report

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

Under a clear blue sky and the sun scorching everyone around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit the third round of the Le Mans Series got underway at 13:00. Fourty-four cars took to the track for their first free practice session on the seven kilometer long track.

It looked like business as usual for Team Peugeot Total as their cars were fastest around the track during the first session. The number 7 car of Gene, Minassian and Villeneuve was on top of the time sheets, setting a 2:00.567. Second fastest was the number 8 of Lamy, Sarrazin and Wurz. The first of the Audi R10s was the number 1 car of Capello and McNish, 2.630 seconds behind the fastes Peugeot in third place.

In LMP2 the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder dominated the class. The Jos Verstappen and Peter van Merksteijn driven Porsche set a time of 2:05.013. None of the other LMP2 cars was able to match that time. Monza winner Team Essex was second fastest in the class, but only managed to set a time of 2:08.658. Third fastest was the Barazi Epsilon team, their lap time was 2:09.127.

The Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette number 72 was fastest in GT1. The French Corvette set a time of 2:16.574, just over half a second quicker than the Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 and over three seconds quicker than the IPB Spartak Racing Lamborghini Murcielago.

Ferrari beat Porsche in the first free practice session, with Virgo Motorsport ending the session on top (2:21.903). The Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche of Lieb and Davison was four tenths of a second behind the Ferrari. Third fastest was the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche of Narac and Lietz.

The session was interrupted by a red flag after about 15 minutes, but as soon as all cars had returned to the box the light went green again and normal service was resumed.