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American LeMans
LMS: Peugeot 1-2 On Friday
Nic Minassian leads way on opening day of practice at Silverstone
John Dagys  |  Posted September 10, 2010   Northampton, (ENG)
Team Peugeot Total was quickest at the end of a damp and overcast day at Silverstone. (John Dagys)
Peugeot proved to be the early pacesetters at Silverstone, with two hours of practice now in the books. Nic Minassian in the lone works Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP topped the charts in Friday afternoon’s second session, turning a 1:43.935 lap time in his diesel-powered LMP1 machine.

The Frenchman, who will share the wheel of the No. 1 entry with Anthony Davidson, was 1.175 seconds quicker than the sister Peugeot from the Team ORECA Matmut stables. Nicolas Lapierre’s time of 1:45.110 was nearly a two-second improvement over the car’s best time in the damp first session.

PHOTOS: Silverstone Friday Photo Gallery

After topping the time charts in the first session, the No. 7 Audi R15 plus TDI of Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen could only muster third best at the end of the day. McNish’s 1:45.789 lap time edged out the sister Audi Sport Team Joest entry of Timo Bernhard and Dindo Capello by 0.242 seconds.

The honor of the fastest gasoline-powered P1s went to the No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Judd of Jean-Christophe Boullion and Andrea Belicchi, three seconds off the pace in fifth. Boullion’s 1:46.926 lap time was one of the few to hold up from the first session.

Both of the Aston Martin Racing Lolas made gains in the afternoon, slotting in sixth and seventh overall, ahead of the Beechdean-Mansell Motorsport Ginetta-Zytek 09S, which is without the driving services of Nigel Mansell this weekend. The 1992 Formula One World Champion, who suffered a concussion from a massive accident at Le Mans in June, has taken his doctor’s recommendation not to race, leaving the Hungaroring-winning P1 entry to his sons, Leo and Greg.

LMP2 was paced by the No. 40 Quifel-ASM Team Ginetta-Zytek 09S of Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral. Pla’s 1:49.092 lap time edged out the Strakka Racing HPD ARX-01c of Jonny Kane by 0.365 seconds.

Kane, who will share the wheel of the Le Mans class-winning entry with Danny Watts and Nick Leventis, are in search of their third class victory of the season and an outside chance of the LMP2 title. Strakka’s championship rivals, RML, wound up third on the day with a 1:51.092 lap time for the HPD-powered Lola B08/80.

Darren Turner powered JMW Motorsport’s Aston Martin Vantage to the top of the time sheets in GT2. The Brit’s 2:03.891 lap time in the V8-engined beast was over three-tenths clear of the field in the highly competitive category. Sharing the wheel with two-time LMS champion Rob Bell, the duo will be in search of their first victory of the season, and first for the Aston Martin brand in GT2.

AF Corse’s No. 95 Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella, Jean Alesi and Toni Vilander were second quickest, followed by point leaders Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz in third piloting their No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche.

The top-eight in class were separated by less than one second, which included cars from four of the six manufacturers taking part this weekend.

A final one-hour practice is on tap Saturday morning before qualifying in the afternoon.

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