ELMS 2023 – COOL Racing Fastest at Motorland Aragon

After a 50-minute delay to repair some damage to the barriers caused in a previous session, the opening ELMS Free Practice got underway. The 90-minute Free Practice period would be punctuated by several cars being served stop and go penalties for track limit violations as the drivers discovered the new anti-clockwise circuit at Motorland Aragon.

When the chequered flag was waved to end the session, it was the no37 COOL Racing Oreca-Gibson that held the top spot on the timing screens, the LMP2 Pro/Am entered car setting a 1m48.738 at the hands of young Dane Malthe Jakobsen.

The 4 Hours of Le Castellet winning car, the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca was second quickest and the fastest of the seven LMP2 cars, with James Allen posting a 1m49.272, 0.534s slower than the COOL Racing Oreca and 0.220s ahead of the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca of Neel Jani. The no28 IDEC Sport Oreca was fourth overall and third fastest in LMP2, just ahead of the no21 United Autosports Oreca of former ELMS Champion Filipe Albuquerque in 5th overall and 2nd in LMP2 Pro/Am.

COOL Racing finished FP1 on top in LMP3 as well, the championship leading no17 Ligier Nissan the faster of the 12 class entries with Marcos Siebert setting a 1m53.601, three tenths faster than the no8 Team Virage Ligier after Manuel Espirito Santo set the fastest lap for the car in 1m53.942. The 4 Hours of Le Castellet class winning no31 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier was third fastest in 1m54.513.

Iron Lynx set the pace in the LMGTE category with Porsche filling the top three positions at the end of the 90-minute session, with the three cars split by just five hundredths of a second.

Matteo Cairoli set the best time for the Italian team, lapping the 5.34km Aragon circuit in 1m58.347, just 0.029s ahead of the no93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Richard Lietz. The no16 Proton Competition Porsche was third fastest with 4 Hours of Barcelona winner Alessio Picariello posting a 1m58.397, two tenths ahead of the no44 GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage of Nicki Thiim in fourth spot.

The second Free Practice session for the 4 Hours of Aragon will be held on Friday evening at 20h30.