Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI
James Calado led the way in Free Practice 1 for Friday’s Qatar 1812km, putting the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P atop the time charts in the first official running of the week at Lusail International Circuit.
The Englishman laid down a best lap of 1:42.123 in the 90-minute session to outpace the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais by 0.267 seconds.
Miguel Molina made it two Ferraris in the top-three, aboard the No. 50 entry, while Brendon Hartley and Dries Vanthoor completing the top-five for Toyota Gazoo Racing and BMW M Team WRT, respectively.
All of the leading times were considerably slower than Robin Frijns’ pace-setting lap set last weekend at the Prologue pre-season test.
A red flag came out just prior to the halfway mark for the No. 009 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie of Alex Riberas, which stopped on track in Turn 1.
The session restarted with 38 minutes remaining, while the Aston did not return to the track.
A Full Course Yellow, meanwhile, came out in the final ten minutes of the session.
LMGT3 was led by the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Ben Barnicoat, thanks to a 1:55.623 flyer late in the session.
It was 0.113 seconds quicker than Dani Juncadella in the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, with the sister No. 81 TF Corvette third in the hands of Charlie Eastwood.
Both the No. 10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 returned to action after encountering separate issues at the Prologue, although neither Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos set times in FP1.
The cars sat out FP1 as it awaited a software update from Mercedes-AMG regarding its refueling process.
Free Practice 2 is scheduled to start at 4:50 p.m. local time (8:50 a.m. ET).
RESULTS: Free Practice 1
