Ferrari 1-2 in FP1 at COTA as McLaren impresses in LMGT3
Antonio Giovinazzi and Tom Fleming set the best times in Hypercar and LMGT3 respectively in the opening Free Practice session today (4 September) at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas in Texas.
The first track action of the 2026 Lone Star Le Mans event at the Circuit of The Americas near Austin in Texas took place under cloudy skies and high humidity this morning
The 90-minute session saw the second half of the campaign roar into life, as Ferrari AF Corse seized the initiative with its pair of factory 499P Hypercars posting the quickest two times
Antonio Giovinazzi set an ultimate fastest lap of 1m53.824s in the #51 entry he shares with fellow reigning champions, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi
That effort was 0.205s quicker than Antonio Fuoco’s early marker, as the #50 crew aims to fight for its second podium finish of the season
Alpine Endurance Team began the weekend strongly with the third-best lap, courtesy of the #36 entry driven by Victor Martins, Ferdinand Habsburg and Frédéric Makowiecki
The French manufacturer just shaded the #8 TOYOTA RACING Hypercar of Ryō Hirakawa, Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, which placed fourth
Charles Milesi split the two Toyotas with his late-session time of 1m54.336, just heading the #7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid by 0.059s
The first of the Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercars, which will be a home fan favourite this weekend, took the seventh-fastest lap as Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais and Jack Aitken in the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry worked through their programme in their quest to secure a first win of the 2026 FIA WEC campaign
Completing the top ten at the end of the 90 minutes were the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie, #19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 and #94 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8
LMGT3
McLaren ruled the roost in the LMGT3 category, as Tom Fleming executed a strong 1m06.016s lap for the Garage 59-run car
The talented young British driver lapped 0.2s faster than the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG shared by Rui Andrade, Martin Berry and Maxime Martin
McLaren reinforced its pace at COTA with the #58 car of Alexander West, Benjamin Goethe and Finn Gehrsitz slotting into third place
The fastest Ferrari 296 proved to be the #21 VISTA AF Corse entry of Simon Mann, François Hériau and Alessio Rovera
They headed the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage and the first of the Ford Mustangs run by Proton Competition – the #88 car piloted by American ace Logan Sergeant alongside Italian duo Giammarco Levorato and Stefano Gattuso, the former of whom took pole position in the corresponding race at COTA last season
The championship-leading #33 TF Sport Corvette started the weekend off in low-key fashion as Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and the returning Nicky Catsburg ended the session in 16th place
FP2 for Lone Star Le Mans will get underway at 16:00 local time (GMT-5).
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