24h Le Mans
The first two practice sessions at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, first round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, went off without a hitch: though the safety car did hit the track, it was only for a training session.
Audi dominated the two sessions of the day: though the No. 8 R18 e-tron quattro was the fastest of the morning thanks to a lap in 1:42:121 clocked by Lucas di Grassi, the No. 7 sister car stole the top spot in the afternoon with the time clocked by the three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Benoît Tréluyer in 1:41:526. The two diesel engine cars were the only ones to roll in under 1:42 even though Timo Bernhard - victorious at Le Mans in 2010 - and his No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid, which managed to slip between the two Audis at the morning session - followed closely behind in 1:42:046.
The world champion Toyotas showed signs of slowing down with the 11th time for Alexander Wurz, two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and 16th for Anthony Davidson, crowned in 2014. The No. 1 car had a harder time than its sister car which managed to keep up with the German cars. As to the only private LM P1 prototype of Team ByKOLLES, who snatched up Christian Klien following Team SARD Morand's British round forfeit, it trailed by more than 10 seconds the hybrid cars.
Like Audi in LM P1, Ligier only left crumbs for its LM P2 competitors by monopolizing the first two spots of the two free practice sessions thanks to G-Drive Racing. It was a newcomer in the Russian team, Luis Felipe Derani, who clocked the fastest lap in 1:48:676. But the Brazilian is no newbie in endurance since he claimed a podium finish at the French round of the European Le Mans Series in 2014 with Murphy Prototypes. Though the two cars designed by Onroak Automotive were the only ones to clock a time under 1:50, things were tight in their wake with the new KCMG Oreca 05, the Strakka Dome S103 of Strakka Racing, the Alpine of Signatech Alpine, ELMS title-holder, and ESM's HPD.
As usual, the LM GTE Pro class was very competitive: even though there are only seven cars going up against each other, the teams were entered by a constructor (Porsche and Aston Martin) or are directly supported by a constructor (Ferrari with AF Corse). With the notable exception of the Ferrari 458 Italia of the winners of the 2014 GT Drivers Cup Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander at the afternoon session, all the cars are in the same second, the best time going to Nicki Thiim in the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 with a 100% Danish driver line-up.
Though the Aston Martin led the hierarchy in LM GTE Pro in the morning and Porsche did the same in the afternoon, the positions were reversed in LM GTE Am, but are just as close. Klaus Bachler, second in the class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014, dropped the ball with a time of 2:02:350 ahead of AF Corse driver Andrea Bertolini, former FIA GT World Champion, Aston Martin member Pedro Lamy and his two overall podiums at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) competitors have an additional one-hour free practice session from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. before moving on to the qualifying sessions at 11:00 a.m. for the GTs and 11:30 a.m. local time for the prototypes.
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
Photo : Laurent CARTALADE - VSA
PHOTO: TOWCESTER (NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, U.K.), SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT, FIA WEC, 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, FRIDAY APRIL 10 2015, FREE PRACTICE. The No. 7 Audi was the fastest of the day.
