The third and final free practice session for the 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas, the headline event for the Lone Star Le Mans weekend of racing and entertainment in Austin, Texas, took place under cloudy skies but on a dry track with track temperatures peaking at 28.3°C. This was a welcome change after last night’s rain-delayed night practice; more rain is due in the coming hours but reducing in time for qualifying at 18h00 CT.
Aston Martin Racing had a clean sweep of the top spots in both the LMGTE Pro and Am classes, with the No.99 Aston Martin Vantage V8 heading the time sheets in the factory-led Pro class – a position it held for almost all the hour-long session.
Brazilian Fernando Rees’ best lap of 2:05.382 put him just 0.04 seconds ahead of his team mate in the No.97, Stefan Mücke, and only 0.098s ahead of the third-placed No.51 AF Ferrari 458 Italia of Gianmaria Bruni. The tiny gaps between the competitors indicate how close and exciting qualifying is likely to be.
Aston Martin Racing’s iconic blue and gold livery lead the way in the LMGTE Am class, with Pedro Lamy setting the benchmark with a time of 2:06.198, only 0.032s ahead of the No.90 Ferrari 458 of US team 8Star Motorsports. Italian Paolo Ruberti set the time in the orange Prancing Horse, three tenths of a second ahead of the second Am Aston Martin Racing entry of Richie Stanaway.
The first of two 25-minute qualifying sessions will kick off at 18h00 this afternoon with the LMGTE Pro and Am entries being the first to take to the track, followed immediately by the LMP1 and LMP2s.
Full results can be found HERE
Fiona Miller
