The FIA World Endurance Championship returned to action at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, for the Lone Star Le Mans round. Under cloudy skies and scorching temperatures exceeding 30°C, teams prepared for the upcoming race with intense practice sessions.
The second free practice session saw Aston Martin emerge as the clear leader in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes, setting the stage for an exciting weekend of endurance racing.
Aston Martin’s Hypercar dominance
The No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie driven by Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble set the fastest lap time in the Hypercar class with a blistering 1m52.567s. This impressive performance put them ahead of the No. 35 Alpine by a margin of 0.122s.
The No. 17 Genesis finished third despite an early incident at Turn 2, where Mathys Jaubert spun into the run-off area due to cold tires. The No. 36 Alpine secured fourth place, just 0.287s behind Tincknell’s benchmark. The three Ferrari entries followed closely, with the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari leading the group in fifth.
The sister No. 009 Aston Martin was eighth, while the two BMWs completed the top 10. The Cadillac Jota entries finished 11th and 16th, and Toyota focused on race set-up work, ending the session 12th and 15th. Both Peugeots were more than a second off the leading time in 14th and 17th.
Aston Martin’s LMGT3 supremacy
In the LMGT3 class, Aston Martin continued its dominance with Zach Robichon setting the fastest time in the closing minutes of the session. Robichon’s 2m05.609s lap time beat the two Iron Lynx Mercedes entries by more than 0.4s.
The two Garage 59 McLarens were more than half a second off the class-leading time but climbed into the top five. The No. 92 Manthey Porsche and No. 78 Lexus ASP also made their presence felt within the top 10. The TF Sport CorvettesWRT BMWs and Proton Competition Fords remained further down the order.
The weekend’s program continues with the 60-minute Free Practice 3 session at 11am local time followed by qualifying and Hyperpole from 3pm local time.
