James Calado topped the first free practice session of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season, at Lusail International Circuit for the Qatar 1812km, with the Ferrari driver setting a 1:42.123 to go quickest.
Calado, onboard the #51 Ferrari 499P, was 0.232 quicker than Sebastien Bourdais, in the #38 Cadillac V-Series.R, continuing Cadillac and new factory team partner JOTA’s impressive form last week in the pre-season Prologue testing.
Calado’s Ferrari teammate Nicklas Nielsen was in the sister #50 Ferrari, 0.042 away from Bourdais.
Toyota’s Brendon Hartley, in the #8 Toyota GR010, was fourth quickest, with the first of the BMWs fifth, with Raffaele Marciello at the wheel of the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8.
Sixth was Will Stevens in the other Cadillac, the #12 machine, while Kevin Estre was seventh in the fastest Porsche. The sister BMW, the #20 with Robin Frijns behind the wheel for itsb fastest lap, was eighth. Rounding out the top 10 in Hypercar were the satellite #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Phil Hanson, and Ferdinand Habsburg in the #356 Alpine A424.
There was one red flag in the session, with Alex Riberas stopping on track in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie due to an unknown technical issue. The car returned to the pits on a flatbed. Both Valkyries were 17th and 18th in their first WEC free practice session.
Barnicoat fastest in Lexus
In LMGT3, Ben Barnicoat topped the timesheets in the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, setting a 1:55.623. The two TF Sport Corvettes were next up in second and third, Daniel Juncadella in the #33 ahead of Charlie Eastwood in the #81, each a tenth off Barnicoat.
Fourth and fifth were Augusto Farfus onboard the #31 WRT BMW M GT3 Evo, and Jose Maria Lopez in the sister #87 ASP Lexus.
FP2 begins 16:50 local time, or 13:50 UTC.
See the full classification of results from FP1 here.
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