The first of two Free Practice sessions of the 4 Hours of Dubai weekend saw the no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca take the top spot on the timing screens after Alex Quinn posted a 1m47.199 lap, just 0.073s ahead of championship leaders RD Limited.
The session was interrupted by a red flag when the no10 Mathey Porsche and no19 Blackthorn Aston Martin collided in T3. Both drivers were OK, but the cars had to be hoisted off the circuit, so the session was stopped to allow the marshals to complete the task as soon as possible.
The no50 AF Corse posted the third fastest time despite stopping with a drive shaft issue early in the session. Olivier Pla posted a 1m47.949 lap, 0.677s behind James Allen in the no30 RD Limited and 0.067s ahead of the no83 AF Corse Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere.
The no15 RLR MSport Ligier was the fastest of the seven LMP3 entries after Ian Aguilera posted a 1m55.367, 0.092s ahead of the second fastest car of Kevin Rabin in the no43 Inter Europol Ligier. The no49 High Class Racing Ligier was third fastest while championship leaders Ultimate finished the 90-minute session in 5th spot, eight tenths behind the lead car.
A Mercedes-AMG took the top spot in the 28 strong GT class, with Lucas Auer posting the session best time of 1m58.789 in the no14 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Austrian driver was 0.611s ahead of the no77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, with Marvin Kirchhofer setting a 1m59.400, just 14 thousandth of a second ahead of the no57 Car Guy Ferrari 296 of Daniel Serra. The no10 Manthey Porsche claimed the 4th fastest time despite the collision with the no19 Blackthorn Aston Martin.
The second Free Practice session is due to begin at 16h45 this afternoon.
CLICK HERE for the results from FP1 in Dubai
