Under grey skies but on a dry track the no29 Duqueine Engineering Oreca-Gibson was the fastest of the 39 cars in Free Practice 1 ahead of this weekend’s 4 Hours of Portimão, the season finale of the 2018 European Le Mans Series.
Pierre Ragues posted a 1m32.846 for the all French team, just seven hundredths ahead of the no22 United Autosports Ligier of local hero Filipe Albuquerque and his British teammate Phil Hanson, with the no32 United Autosports Ligier third quickest two tenths further behind.
LMP2 champions elect, G-Drive Racing could only manage to post the tenth fastest time in the 90-minute session with Jean-Eric Vergne setting a 1m33.977, 1.131s behind the lead car.
The LMP3 category was headed by the no17 Ultimate Norma of Mathieu Lahaye, the French team finishing the session on 1m40.097, nearly three tenths ahead of the no8 DKR Engineering Norma of Nicolas Maulini. The championship leading no15 RLR MSport Ligier was third fastest with Job Van Uitert setting a 1m40.427 lap.
The LMGTE class was a Porsche 1-2 with the no77 Proton Competition 911 of Marvin Dienst leading the way with a 1m43.301, 0.4 seconds ahead of the championship leading no88 Proton Competition Porsche of Giorgio Roda. The no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari was third quickest with Miguel Molina posting a 1m43.834 lap.
You can watch the qualifying session right here at In Pit Lane from 12:15AM Sunday.
