On a warm but cloudy afternoon in the UAE, the 47 cars taking part in the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi headed out for the first of two 90-minute Free Practice sessions. With the thermometer hitting 25 degrees, the no30 RD Limited Oreca posted the fastest lap of the uninterrupted session, with the no49 High Class Racing at the head of LMP3 and no21 Car Collection Porsche the fastest of the 30 strong GT field.
James Allen lapped the 5.281km Yas Marina track in 1m41.287 in the RD Limited Oreca-Gibson, over half a second faster than the no91 Pure Rxcing, with Harry King setting the second-best time of 1m41.816.
The no22 Proton Competition was third fastest with a 1m41.913 set by Tom Dillmann, 0.656s behind the lead car and 0.063s ahead of the championship leading no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Valerio Rinicella in fourth place.
The no49 High Class Racing Ligier headed the seven car LMP3 field with Anders Fjordbach setting a 1m48.575 lap, just 85 thousandths of a second ahead of race 4 winners RLR MSport, with Ian Aguilera setting a1m48.660. The no26 Bretton Racing Ligier finished the session third, just 0.001s ahead of championship leader Matteo Quintarelli in the no35 Ultimate.
The no21 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche finished the session at the top of the huge GT field with a 1m52.761 set by Alex Fontana, 0.368s ahead of championship leader Luca Stolz in the no81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
The no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche was third fastest after Laurin Heinrich set a 1m52.283, with the no77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 fourth fastest with a 1m53.392.
Free Practice 2, the final practice session of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series, is due to get underway at 19h45 GST / 16h45 CET this evening.
CLICK HERE for the result from FP1 at the Yas Marina Circuit.
