Laurens Vanthoor topped the first practice session for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, at Interlagos, the fifth round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.
The # Porsche driver set a 1:25.176 to quickest, 0.084 ahead of Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco, in the #50 Ferrari.
BMW’s Rene Rast was third in the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, 0.154 off L. Vanthoor. Fourth was Toyota’s Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota, with fifth going to the sister BMW of Raffaele Marciello in the #15 car.
All eight manufacturers were within three tenths, which indicates qualifying and the race could be close as Ferrari may struggle to maintain their dominance, on a track that doesn’t entirely suit the 499P.
In LMGT3, it was an Akkodis ASP Lexus 1-2, with Jose Maria Lopez fastest in the #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, with a 1:35.010. Second was his teammate in the #78 car, Finn Gehrsitz, 0.124 off. Third went to Daniel Juncadella in the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Fourth was Valentin Hasse Clot in the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3, while Charlie Eastwood took fifth in the sister #81 TF Sport Corvette.
After an almost-20 minute delay due to a timing malfunction, the session ran cleanly, with a single full course yellow for the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.
Practice 2 takes place at 15:45 local time at Interlagos, with qualifying on Saturday at 14:45 local time.
