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WEC Sao Paulo: Peugeot fastest in truncated opening session

Peugeot set the quickest time in the opening practice for the World Endurance Championship at Sao Paulo after a red flag brought an early halt to proceedings.

The 90-minute session was red-flagged at exactly the halfway point when Arnold Robin heavily crashed his #78 ASK Lexus RC F GT3 at Turn 4 on a damp but drying track. Although bronze-rated Robin was reported to be okay and taken to medical centre for evaluation, the impact substantially damaged the barriers at the exit of the left-hander, leading to a prolonged suspension.

With still 20 minutes left on the clock, the race control announced that the session would not be restarted - with the results declared from the times set immediately prior to the red flag. To make up for the lost time, FP2 will be extended by 45 minutes and will now run from 14:30 to 16:45 on Friday evening.

Just prior to the stoppage caused by the Lexus, Peugeot had gone quickest in the Hypercar class courtesy of Nico Muller in the #93 9X8.

Having fitted slick tyres on like the rest of the field as the track began to dry out after earlier showers, the Swiss driver first moved to the top of the charts with a time of 1m26.971s before cementing his position with a 1m26.341s flier.

Cadillac ended up second after 45 minutes of green flag running, with Earl Bamber - who had set the pace on wet tyres early on - lapping the circuit in 1m26.520s, 0.179s down on Muller’s benchmark.

Third place went to the #6 Porsche 963 of Andre Lotterer, who was the first to set competitive lap times on slicks. The German’s best effort of 1m26.657s was 0.226s off the pace, but comfortably clear of fourth-placed Sebastien Buemi in the best of the Toyotas, the #8 GR010 HYBRID.

AF Corse driver Yifei Ye led Ferrari’s three-car attack in fifth after posting a time of 1m26.824s, while BMW driver Rene Rast made it six different manufacturers inside the top six with a time of 1m26.871s.

No other driver was able to lap within a second of Muller, as the red flag was deployed not too long after the track had become dry enough for slick rubber.

Miguel Molina in the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning #50 Ferrari was 1.003s off the pace in seventh place, while Mike Conway - making his WEC return after missing the previous round due to a cycling accident - put the #7 Toyota up to eighth in the ranking.

Next up was Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche, while Jean-Karl Vernay was a surprise 10th in the Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-Competizione.

The two Alpine A424 LMDh cars ended up 12th and 13th, while Jota ended up at the bottom of the Hypercar order with its two customer Porche 963s.

McLaren leads the LMGT3 category

In the LMGT3 class, Nicolas Costa topped the session in the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 after setting a time of 1m35.881s just before the red flag.

That put him just 0.003s clear of Alex Riberas in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, while the sister Aston car entered under the D’station Racing banner finished third with a time of 1m36.104s set by Marco Sorensen.

The two Lamborghinis occupied fourth and fifth positions, with Matteo Cressoni just edging ahead in the #60 Iron Lynx Huracan GT3.

The #78 Lexus that brought out the red flag ended up 17th out of the 18 runners, with Robin having set the car's best time of 1m40.108s prior to his off at Turn 4. Robin's team-mate Kelvin van der Linde had previously put the car at the top of the order on wet tyres when the track was still damp.

Sao Paulo WEC - FP1 Results:

   
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4
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Team # Drivers Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
93 Denmark M. Jensen Switzerland N. Müller France J. Vergne Peugeot 9X8 2024 26

1'26.341

  179.664
2
CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR
2 New Zealand E. Bamber United Kingdom A. Lynn Cadillac V-Series.R 21

+0.179

1'26.520

0.179 179.292
3
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
6 France K. Estre Germany A. Lotterer Belgium L. Vanthoor Porsche 963 26

+0.226

1'26.567

0.047 179.195
4
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
8 Switzerland S. Buemi New Zealand B. Hartley Japan R. Hirakawa Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 22

+0.436

1'26.777

0.210 178.761
5
AF Corse HYPERCAR
83 Poland R. Kubica Israel R. Shwartzman China Y. Yifei Ferrari 499P 23

+0.483

1'26.824

0.047 178.664
6
BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR
20 South Africa S. Van Der Linde Netherlands R. Frijns Germany R. Rast BMW M Hybrid V8 24

+0.530

1'26.871

0.047 178.568
7
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
50 Italy A. Fuoco Spain M. Molina Denmark N. Nielsen Ferrari 499P 24

+1.003

1'27.344

0.473 177.601
8
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
7 United Kingdom M. Conway Japan K. Kobayashi Netherlands N. de Vries Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 24

+1.306

1'27.647

0.303 176.987
9
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
5 Australia M. Campbell Denmark M. Christensen France F. Makowiecki Porsche 963 26

+1.817

1'28.158

0.511 175.961
10
Isotta Fraschini HYPERCAR
11 Canada A. Serravalle Hungary C. Bennett France J. Vernay Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione LMH 12

+2.085

1'28.426

0.268 175.428
11
BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR
15 Belgium D. Vanthoor Italy R. Marciello Germany M. Wittmann BMW M Hybrid V8 25

+2.684

1'29.025

0.599 174.247
12
Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR
35 France P. Chatin Austria F. Habsburg France C. Milesi Alpine A424 23

+3.465

1'29.806

0.781 172.732
13
Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR
36 France N. Lapierre Germany M. Schumacher France M. Vaxiviere Alpine A424 24

+4.728

1'31.069

1.263 170.336
14
Proton Competition HYPERCAR
99 Switzerland N. Jani France J. Andlauer Porsche 963 19

+4.948

1'31.289

0.220 169.926
15
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
51 Italy A. Pier Guidi United Kingdom J. Calado Italy A. Giovinazzi Ferrari 499P 23

+5.157

1'31.498

0.209 169.538
16
Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR
63 Italy M. Bortolotti Switzerland E. Mortara Russian Federation D. Kvyat Lamborghini SC63 22

+5.681

1'32.022

0.524 168.572
17
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
94 United Kingdom P. di Resta France L. Duval Belgium S. Vandoorne Peugeot 9X8 2024 24

+6.130

1'32.471

0.449 167.754
18
HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR
38 United Kingdom J. Button United Kingdom P. Hanson Denmark O. Rasmussen Porsche 963 7

+6.505

1'32.846

0.375 167.076
19
HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR
12 United Kingdom W. Stevens United Kingdom C. Ilott France N. Nato Porsche 963 15

+7.936

1'34.277

1.431 164.540
20
United Autosports LMGT3
59 J. Cottingham N. Costa Switzerland G. Saucy McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 13

+9.540

1'35.881

1.604 161.788
21
Heart of Racing Team LMGT3
27 United Kingdom I. James Italy D. Mancinelli Spain A. Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 19

+9.543

1'35.884

0.003 161.782
22
D'Station Racing LMGT3
777 France C. Mateu
E. Bastard
Denmark M. Sorensen
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 21

+9.763

1'36.104

0.220 161.412
23
IRON LYNX LMGT3
60 Italy C. Schiavoni Italy M. Cressoni
F. Perera
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 19

+9.819

1'36.160

0.056 161.318
24
IRON DAMES LMGT3
85 Belgium S. Bovy Switzerland R. Frey Denmark M. Gatting Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 19

+9.857

1'36.198

0.038 161.254
25
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
55 France F. Heriau France S. Mann Italy A. Rovera Ferrari 296 GT3 23

+10.295

1'36.636

0.438 160.524
26
TEAM WRT LMGT3
31
D. Leung
Indonesia S. Gelael Brazil A. Farfus
BMW M4 GT3 23

+10.305

1'36.646

0.010 160.507
27
TEAM WRT LMGT3
46 United Kingdom A. Al Harthy Italy V. Rossi Belgium M. Martin BMW M4 GT3 23

+10.316

1'36.657

0.011 160.489
28
United Autosports LMGT3
95 United Kingdom J. Caygill Chile N. Pino Japan M. Sato McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 21

+10.360

1'36.701

0.044 160.416
29
AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3
87 Japan T. Kimura
E. Masson
Argentina J. Lopez
Lexus RC F GT3 17

+10.490

1'36.831

0.130 160.200
30
TF Sport LMGT3
82 Japan H. Koizumi
S. Baud
Spain D. Juncadella
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 20

+10.689

1'37.030

0.199 159.872
31
Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3
92
A. Malykhin
J. Sturm
Austria K. Bachler
Porsche 911 GT3 R 23

+10.995

1'37.336

0.306 159.369
32
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
54 Switzerland T. Flohr Italy F. Castellacci Italy D. Rigon Ferrari 296 GT3 22

+11.082

1'37.423

0.087 159.227
33
Proton Competition LMGT3
88 Italy G. Roda
M. Pedersen
Norway D. Olsen
Ford Mustang GT3 15

+11.738

1'38.079

0.656 158.162
34
TF Sport LMGT3
81 Belgium T. Van Rompuy Portugal R. Andrade Ireland C. Eastwood Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 20

+12.099

1'38.440

0.361 157.582
35
Manthey EMA LMGT3
91
Y. Shahin
M. Schuring
Austria R. Lietz
Porsche 911 GT3 R 23

+13.223

1'39.564

1.124 155.803
36
AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3
78
A. Robin
Austria C. Schmid South Africa K. van der Linde
Lexus RC F GT3 16

+13.767

1'40.108

0.544 154.956
37
Proton Competition LMGT3
77 United States R. Hardwick Canada Z. Robichon United Kingdom B. Barker Ford Mustang GT3 17

+20.027

1'46.368

6.260 145.837
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