The 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship got underway at Austin on Friday with the opening practice for Lone Star Le Mans, during which Antonio Giovinazzi set the fastest lap in the Hypercar class.
Temperatures hovered around 30°C during FP1, with similarly hot conditions forecast for the remainder of the weekend. Drivers noted on Thursday that the heat could complicate double-stinting strategies, while reduced usable energy is anticipated to cut stint lengths in Sunday’s six-hour race, possibly necessitating an additional pit stop.
Ferrari locked out the top two spots, as Antonio Giovinazzi piloted the No. 51 factory 499P to the quickest lap of 1m53.824s. He edged out his teammate Antonio Fuoco in the sister No. 50 Ferrari by 0.205 seconds.
Alpine and Toyota secured the positions immediately behind the Ferraris. Jules Gounon placed the No. 36 Alpine A424 in third, nearly 0.4 seconds off the pace and just 0.098 seconds ahead of the No. 8 Toyota.
The No. 35 Alpine edged ahead of Nyck de Vries in the No. 7 Toyota, with the latter bringing out a brief Full Course Yellow following an off-track excursion.
The quicker of the two Cadillac Jota entries, the No. 38, qualified seventh, 0.6 seconds off the pace, and finished ahead of the No. 009 Aston Martin and No. 19 Genesis — the latter being one of the few cars to record its fastest lap on hard tyres.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TR010: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries
Photo by: Toyota Racing
In the closing stages, the No. 94 Peugeot broke into the top 10 at the expense of the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, which finished 0.949 seconds off the pace while running a mixed set of medium and hard tyres.
BMW Hypercar entrants lagged more than a second behind the leading time in 15th and 17th positions, although comparing practice times proved challenging due to varying fuel loads, tyre selections, and setup programmes.
#009 Aston Martin Thor Team Aston Martin Valkyrie: Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen
Photo by: Jakob Ebrey / LAT Images via Getty Images
In the LMGT3 category, Tom Fleming set the fastest lap with a 2m06.016s effort in the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren.
Fleming moved ahead of Maxime Martin’s No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes midway through the session, beating it by 0.277 seconds, with the No. 10 McLaren running close behind.
The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari and No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin rounded out the top five, with the latter finishing half a second behind the class-leading McLaren. The AF Corse Ferrari was among the cars penalized with a five-minute pit stop for repeated track-limits violations.
The two Proton Ford entries claimed sixth and seventh places, followed by the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and the No. 87 Lexus ASP. The No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes completed the top ten, with all ten cars within 1.4 seconds of Fleming’s benchmark time.
Both the Manthey Porsche and WRT BMW entries failed to break into the top ten.
Free Practice 2 is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. local time, which corresponds to 11:00 p.m. CET.
