Cadillac topped opening observe earlier than BMW led the best way within the second session at Circuit of the Americas, as spherical six of this 12 months’s eight-event FIA World Endurance Championship, the Lone Star Le Mans, received underway in sizzling Texan circumstances
AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS ON TOP FROM THE OFF
The #12 Cadillac headed the FP1 instances on residence soil at COTA, with an American producer likewise to the fore in LMGT3 courtesy of a TF Sport Corvette one-two.
The primary monitor working of the 2025 Lone Star Le Mans weekend started with a 90-minute session held in sizzling and sunny circumstances on the Circuit of the Americas.
Early issues struck the #15 BMW as Raffaele Marciello stopped on monitor and needed to be recovered with a suspected MGU situation.
Technical points in race management delayed the session by 50 minutes, which led to an extension being activated.
When working resumed, the quickest time was set by the #12 Cadillac Hertz Group JOTA entry pushed by Will Stevens within the 6 Hours of São Paulo-winning Cadillac V-Sequence.R Hypercar that he shared with Norman Nato and Alex Lynn.
Stevens’ lap of 1m53.584s was 0.129s faster than the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Tom Gamble, Harry Tincknell and Ross Gunn.
Nonetheless, the #12 automotive ended the FP1 session within the gravel entice at Flip 7, bringing out the pink flag and an early conclusion to proceedings.
Third in Hypercar was final 12 months’s profitable #83 Ferrari AF Corse entry, as Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye appeared to defend their COTA crown alongside new-for-2025 team-mate Phil Hanson.
In LMGT3, the #33 TF Sport Corvette topped the instances forward of the sister #81 for almost all of the session. Daniel Juncadella set the perfect lap with a 2m07.037s, eclipsing Charlie Eastwood’s effort by 0.057s.
BMW MOVES TO THE TOP IN SECOND PRACTICE
The quickest lap of the second free observe session for the 2025 Lone Star Le Mans weekend was set by the #20 BMW pushed by Sheldon van der Linde.
The South African ace produced a lap of 1m51.946s, 0.4s faster than his nearest pursuer, Antonio Giovinazzi within the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar.
Final 12 months’s pole-sitter and early race chief, Giovinazzi, aimed to avenge the error that had price the #51 crew a possible win 12 months earlier.
Persevering with the massively promising tempo from FP1, Aston Martin’s The Coronary heart of Racing Group positioned third because the #009 automotive of Marco Sørensen, Alex Riberas and Roman de Angelis clocked a 1m52.457s lap – simply 0.050s shy of the #51 Ferrari.
In LMGT3, United Autosports continued their sturdy kind at a monitor the place they’d claimed a maiden podium final 12 months, because the #95 McLaren topped the category leaderboard.
Sean Gelael lapped in 2m06.545s to guide the #85 Iron Dames Porsche, with Rahel Frey setting a time solely 0.090s slower within the automotive she shared with Michelle Gatting and Célia Martin.
