It has been a story of firsts at the 8 Hours of Portimão so far this weekend. The WEC is making its first appearance at the Portuguese circuit, and new blood has joined the Hypercar class too. But it was the LMP2 cars that showed real pace, topping the time sheets in all three sessions.
The #38 JOTA Oreca was quickest in FP1 ahead of the #36 Signatech and #8 Toyota, while the honours in FP2 went the way of the United Autosports USA crew in the #22 machine. United Autosports followed up their solid performance by once again going quickest in FP3.
Glickenhaus Racing made its long-awaited competitive debut in their new-for-2021 Glickenhaus 007 LMH. Following a cautious start to the weekend, the US manufacturer ended the free practice sessions with the fourth-fastest time so far this weekend – a 1:31.916., just three tenths off United Autosports’ FP3 benchmark.
In GTE Pro, Porsche appear to have a slight advantage on pace over the Ferrari crews. The #92 911 RSR-19 topped the time sheets in FP1 and FP3, while Daniel Serra pipped the #92 crew to fastest in FP2.
Porsche also dominated proceedings in GTE Am, with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing machine fastest in FP1 and Team Project 1 fastest in FP2 and FP3.