Nielsen Racing Dominates Free Practice 1 at Dubai Autodrome
Dubai, UAE – Alex Quinn of Nielsen Racing topped the time sheets in Free Practice 1 at the Dubai Autodrome ahead of the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series, recording a blistering 1:49.182 in the #64 ORECA 07 – Gibson. This early time set four successive fastest laps and remained unbeaten throughout the 90-minute session.
Close competitors included United Autosports’ Giorgio Roda, who clocked a 1:49.410 in the #5 ORECA, and Lorenzo Fluxa, third in the #88 Proton Competition ORECA, trailing by just 0.127 seconds.
Griffin Peebles of DKR Engineering and Malthe Jakobsen rounding out the top five positions, with Charles Milesi in the leading #47 Cetilar Racing ORECA finishing sixth. The session faced a brief interruption due to a Red Flag incident involving Nolan Siegel, whose #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA stalled on track. The team later returned, completing 32 laps to secure ninth.
In LMP3, Matteo Quintarelli emerged fastest, achieving a time of 1:57.399 in the #23 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota. Callum Voisin of High Class Racing cut the gap to 0.582 seconds in the #94 Ligier, followed by Luciano Morano and Team Virage’s Julien Gerbi.
Klaus Bachler led the GT class in Manthey’s #10 Porsche 911 GT3 R, clocking a notable 1:59.997—the only GT driver to dip below the two-minute mark. Fabian Schiller’s #9 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO and Laurin Heinrich’s #87 Porsche completed the top three.
All 46 entered cars participated, despite the absence of the #89 EBM Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo. The #30 RD Limited ORECA LMP2 completed the most laps with a total of 44.
Track action continues with Free Practice 2 scheduled later today at 16:30 GST (12:30 UTC).
