As the temperature at the Circuit of The Americas in Texas hit 34 degrees, with the track temperature 11 degrees higher, the no8 Audi R18 of Oliver Jarvis, Lucas Di Grassi and Loic Duval set the fastest time in the first Free Practice session of the 6 Hours of COTA with Oliver Jarvis setting the benchmark 1m48.453 time on the car’s 10th lap.  The British driver was just 0.047s ahead of the no2 Porsche 919 of Neel Jani and nearly 0.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Marcel Fassler in the no7 Audi.

The LMP2 class was headed by the no26 G Drive Racing Oreca of Rene Rast, the German setting a 1m57 second lap, 0.6 seconds ahead of the no35 Baxi DC Racing Alpine of Nelson Panciatici and the no44 Manor Oreca of Richard Bradley.

In LMGTE Pro it was Ford leading the field with Stefan Mucke in the no66 Ford GT setting the pace for the home race of the US manufacturer with a 2m05.457, 0.103s ahead of the no51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 of Gianmaria Bruni, with the no71 AF Corse Ferrari of Davide Rigon third quickest. 

In LMGTE Am it was also another home score for an American manuafacturer as the no50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette with Ricky Taylor posting a 2m07.412, 0.4 seconds ahead of the no88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche of Kevin Estre and the no86 Gulf Racing Porsche of Ben Barker.

Free Practice 2 will take place after sunset this evening in Texas, with the 90-minute session getting underway at 20h00.