Heart of Racing Aston Martin Tops Opening Sao Paulo Practice

Photo: DPPI/WEC

Aston Martin driver Harry Tincknell set the pace in the opening practice session for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo FIA World Endurance Championship round.

The Briton clocked a 1:25.457 aboard the No. 009 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie to finish up just 0.024 seconds faster than the No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco.

It had looked like Robert Kubica would set the pace in the AF Corse satellite Ferrari but his 1:25.184 was subsequently deleted for exceeding track limits and his next best lap put him in fourth position, behind the No. 51 factory car of Antonio Giovinazzi, who managed a 1:25.563.

Behind the trio of Ferraris in fifth was the pick of the Alpine A424s, the No. 36 entry of Jules Gounon that registered a 1:25.700, while the top-six was completed by the lead BMW M Hybrid V8, the No. 20 car that managed a 1:25.998 in the hands of Sheldon van der Linde.

Seventh quickest was Genesis Magma Racing with Mathieu Jaminet posting a 1:26.002 aboard the No. 17 GMR-001.

This was five hundredths faster than the sister No. 19 car of home hero Pipo Derani, but they were sandwiched on the leaderboard by the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 of Loic Duval, who achieved a 1:26.014.

The top-ten was then completed by the pick of the Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.Rs, the No. 12 machine of Will Stevens that has only got a two-driver lineup for this weekend.

Next up was the second of the Aston Martins, the No. 009 of Marco Sorensen that was still within eight tenths of Tincknell’s benchmark, while it was a low-key session for 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Toyota.

The best of the Toyota TR010 Hybrids was only 12th, courtesy of 1:26.219 from Mike Conway in the No. 7 machine.

There was only one brief full-course yellow interruption to the 90-minute session, which came to retrieve debris from the opening turns shortly after the No. 34 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Salih Yoluc tangled with the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Thomas Flohr for whick Yoluc received a reprimand.

It was Maxime Martin in the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 that topped the LMGT3 timesheet thanks to a 1:34.883 that was just over a tenth faster than the best time from this session last year.

Martin finished up over half a second faster than the 1:35.459 that Charlie Eastwood achieved in the No. 34 Corvette.

Third fastest was local driver Augusto Farfus in the specially-liveried No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO on a 1:35.596 that was half a tenth quicker than Ben Tuck aboard the No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVO.

The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessio Rovera ensured there were five different manufacturers inside the top-five, while the second of the Mercedes-AMGs — the No. 79 machine of Matteo Cressoni — was sixth.

A second 90-minute practice session is due to take place later at 3:50 p.m. local time (2:50 p.m. EST).

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

Source: Sports Car 365