Portimão Free Practice: Masson Tops Timesheets in LMP2
Esteban Masson of Forestier Racing by Panis set the fastest time in the opening Free Practice session for the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) season finale at Portimão. The French driver clocked a 1:32.646 in the #29 ORECA 07-Gibson, outperforming title contender Gregoire Saucy by 0.085 seconds. Saucy, in the #22 United Autosports ORECA, secured second fastest overall.
Alex Lynn and his Algarve Pro Racing teammate Malthe Jakobsen followed closely, with Lynn setting the third best time and Jakobsen leading the LMP2 Pro/Am class. Job van Uitert in the #28 IDEC Sport ORECA and Tristan Vautier of DKR Engineering rounded out the top five. The top ten was completed by entries from Inter Europol Competition, CLX Motorsport, and Vector Sport.
In the LMP3 category, championship leader Louis Iglesias piloted the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 – Toyota to the top time of 1:39.917, significantly ahead of Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen in the #5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier by 0.610 seconds. A clean sweep of the top six positions was achieved by Ligier entries.
Kessel Racing’s Daniel Serra dominated the LMGT3 class, recording a fastest lap of 1:42.737 in the #57 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo. Wayne Boyd in the #23 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 Evo followed in second, 0.159 seconds off the pace.
The session was punctuated by a Full Course Yellow due to a stoppage by Hugo Schwarze in the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine D09-Toyota, and a subsequent Red Flag caused by PJ Hyett’s incident at Turn 12 aboard the #99 AO by TF ORECA.
Free Practice 2 is scheduled for tomorrow at 10:15 WEST, preceded by a Bronze Driver Collective Test at 14:40 WEST.
Key Takeaways:
- Fastest Overall: Esteban Masson (#29 ORECA 07-Gibson) – 1:32.646
- Top LMP3: Louis Iglesias (#17 Ligier JS P325-Toyota) – 1:39.917
- Top LMGT3: Daniel Serra (#57 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo) – 1:42.737
This session sets the stage for an intense race weekend as teams prepare for the championship decider.
