Cadillac leads glitch-plagued first WEC practice at COTA

After a long technical delay and multiple red flags, Will Stevens and Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA came out ahead in the opening practice session for the FIA WEC's Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas on Friday.

The No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R's best of 1m53.584s came not long after a 50-minute delay caused by a trackside technical issue.

The problem arose just after the scheduled start of the 90-minute session. The No. 15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 stopped in between Turns 13 and 14 with an MGU failure, just as Raffaele Marciello was bringing the car up to speed. The car was lifted away safely, but then a software issue at the track led to teams reporting that they were receiving faulty data. The red flag was extended to deal with the problem. Race director Eduardo Freitas then made the decision to restart the entire session from the beginning at 12:31pm local time.

Behind Stevens in second and fourth place on the leaderboard were the two Aston Martin Valkyries: Harry Tincknell in the No. 007 (1m53.713s) in second, and Alex Riberas in the No. 009 (1m53.789s) in fourth. Robert Kubica went third-fastest in the yellow No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P (1m53.728s).

While the No. 12 Cadillac set the fastest time, it did bring out a red flag (the third of four during the session) with less than 20 minutes left. Alex Lynn spun at Turn 7 and got stuck in the gravel – not ideal for the leading Hypercar.

Rounding out the Hypercar top five was Antonio Giovinazzi in the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, ahead of its sister car, the No. 50 of Nicklas Nielsen in sixth. The No. 20 WRT BMW finished seventh, while the No. 15 car would return to the course after repairs to run laps near the end of FP1.

The No. 93 Peugeot 9X8, the No. 36 Alpine A424, and the No. 8 Toyota GR010–Hybrid completed the top 10 in the top class.

TF Sport’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 LMGT3.Rs finished 1-2 in LMGT3, led by Daniel Juncadella in the No. 33 Corvette. The Spaniard set a 2m07.037s to surpass the best time set by the No. 81 Corvette of Charlie Eastwood. Eastwood’s 2m07.094s was still sufficient for second place, but the car would bring out a session-ending fourth red flag after it stopped with Rui Andrade behind the wheel.

Behind the two Corvettes was the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 Evo of Marino Sato (2m07.295s), the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 LMGT3 R of Michelle Gatting (2m07.365s), and the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of Davide Rigon (2m07.385s).

But Racing Spirit of Léman suffered a setback: Derek DeBoer crashed the No. 10 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 in Turns 4 and 5 while on an out lap. DeBoer walked away unassisted, though the car suffered damage at the rear.

Free Practice 2 starts at 4:30pm local time.

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