Cetilar Racing Leads Free Practice at Asian Le Mans Series Opener
Circuit Paul Ricard hosted the opening round of the Asian Le Mans Series, where the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 499P emerged as the fastest car in Free Practice, driven by Roberto Lacorte. Lacorte clocked a session-best time of 1:52.450, edging out the #90 AF Corse Ferrari of Luis Perez Companc by 0.408 seconds.
In the LMP2 category, Victor Martins of the #11 Proton Competition ORECA 07 – Gibson posted a competitive lap of 1:53.153, momentarily splitting the Hypercar entries. Martins outpaced his compatriot Julien Andlauer in the #83 AF Corse ORECA by 0.255 seconds, while Bijoy Garg placed third for Inter Europol Competition, following a late entry due to earlier technical issues.
The session saw the #43 Inter Europol Competition team serve a five-minute stop-and-go penalty at the onset due to an earlier collision involving Torsten Kratz and the #16 Team Virage ORECA.
In GT3, Mathys Jaubert led in the #57 CarGuy Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, achieving a time of 2:03.077, narrowly surpassing Steve Jans in the #9 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 Evo by 0.065 seconds. The top five was rounded out by Dustin Blattner’s #58 Garage 59 McLaren, Peter Dempsey’s #50 AF Corse Ferrari, and Ian James’ #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.
FP2 was cut short when a red flag was issued following a collision between the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG and the #68 Car Blanche by RSL Aston Martin at Turn 7. Both drivers, Julian Hanses and Arnold Robin, were unharmed, but repairs to the barrier halted the session.
Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet is scheduled for 16:05 CEST. It will feature two 15-minute sessions for the GT3 class, with the first determining the grid for Race 1 and the second for Race 2. Hypercar and LMP2 entries will follow suit in their respective qualifying sessions, all requiring Bronze-ranked drivers to participate.
Image courtesy of Asian Le Mans Series
