Season 9 of the FIA World Endurance Championship officially kicked off with the first free practice session at Spa-Francorchamps. The sun and heat of the last few days gave way to variable weather and decidedly colder temperatures of around seven degrees. This was the backdrop to the ninety-minute unofficial practice session, during which the Ferrari crews continued to fine-tune their cars.
LMGTE Pro. The two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs completed the first session in third and fourth, with Pier Guidi-Calado and Serra-Molina. Just 195 thousandths separated the two Ferraris, with car no. 51 just 54 thousandths behind the leader, Porsche no. 92. After missing the prologue, Daniel Serra completed his first laps in car no. 52, seeking to build a rapport with the track.
LMGTE Am. This class, which also includes “Bronze” drivers, is finely balanced with ten cars bunched within eight-tenths of each other. The Iron Lynx 488 GTE was the best of the Ferraris, crewed by Schiavoni-Cressoni-Piccini. The latter set a time of 2:14.623, 682 thousandths down on Porsche no. 56 of Team Project 1. The second Iron Lynx car was sixth fastest with Frey-Legge-Gostner at the wheel, 25 thousandths ahead of the AF Corse 488 GTE driven by Flohr-Fisichella-Castellacci. Lacorte-Sernagiotto-Fuoco came ninth in the Cetilar Racing Ferrari, while the second AF Corse car, crewed by Perrodo-Nielsen-Rovera, closed in eleventh.
Programme. The second session is on Friday at 9:30 am, while the third and final one will be at 2 pm. In the evening, at 6:20 pm, qualifying will be held to decide the starting grid for Saturday's race, which sets off at 1:30 pm.