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Aston Martin ended both classes at the top of the timing sheets in Free Practice 2 for the Lone Star Le Mans, as the FIA World Endurance Championship returned to Austin in cloudy conditions. Air temperatures exceeded 30°C, while the track surface climbed above 40°C.
Harry Tincknell set the Hypercar benchmark in the No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie he shares with Tom Gamble. His 1m52.567s lap was enough to beat the No. 35 Alpine by 0.122 seconds, underlining the narrow margins at the front of the field.
The No. 17 Genesis was third despite an early incident at Turn 2. Mathys Jaubert, caught out by cold tyres shortly after the session began, spun into the run-off area and caused a brief red flag. The No. 36 Alpine completed the top four, 0.287s away from Tincknell’s leading time.
Ferrari then filled the next three positions. The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari led the group in fifth, ahead of the factory No. 50 and No. 51 499Ps, with only a few hundredths of a second separating the three cars. The sister No. 009 Aston Martin was eighth, 0.925s off the pace, while the two BMWs completed the top 10.
Cadillac Jota’s entries finished 11th and 16th. Toyota ended 12th and 15th after focusing on race set-up work, while both Peugeots were more than a second away from the leading time in 14th and 17th. The session offered another early indication of the competitive spread outlined in our Lone Star Le Mans preview.
Aston Martin’s advantage extended to LMGT3, where Zach Robichon produced the fastest lap in the closing minutes. His 2m05.609s effort put him more than 0.4 seconds clear of the two Iron Lynx Mercedes entries.
The two Garage 59 McLarens were more than half a second behind the class-leading time but still climbed into the top five. They were followed by the No. 92 Manthey Porsche and No. 78 Lexus ASP.
The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari, No. 91 Manthey Porsche and No. 87 Lexus ASP also made the top 10, all within one second of Robichon’s benchmark. TF Sport’s Corvettes, WRT’s BMWs and Proton Competition’s Fords remained further down the order.
Saturday begins with the 60-minute Free Practice 3 session at 11am local time, followed by qualifying and Hyperpole from 3pm local time.
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