Audi Sport Team Joest occupied the top two positions at the end of the first practice session for the Shanghai round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Andre Lotterer was the quickest driver all morning, submitting a 1:45.707s lap just seven minutes into the 90 minute session.
Lucas di Grassi followed closely in the second Audi R18 e-tron quattro, finishing 0.645s behind his German team-mate.
Porsche had little answer to Lotterer and di Grassi during the session, with Mark Webber and the #17 919 Hybrid settling for third in the order, 0.812s off the pace.
The #18 Porsche fared similarly in the hands of Marc Lieb, who concluded the morning 1.221s in arrears.
Toyota continued to linger behind the German manufacturers as Alex Wurz set a 1:47.603s marker in the #2 car to claim fifth place overall.
LMP2 whetted many people’s appetites with a closely bunched field, led by the KCMG ORECA 05 of Richard Bradley. The Briton’s 1:55.069s lap was only seven hundredths quicker than Sam Bird in the #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier, which KCMG is currently chasing in the points standings.
Signatech Alpine finished the morning third overall, and the best placed open cockpit team, with Paul Loup Chatin recording a 1:55.325s effort.
The LMGTE Pro ranks were comprehensively topped by Porsche Team Manthey driver Patrick Pilet, who registered a 2:04.785s best to lead the category by six tenths of a second.
Pilet’s team-mate Richard Lietz ended the session second overall in the sister Porsche 911 RSR, while Aston Martin Racing, despite voicing its concerns at the BoP adjustments made in the latter part of the season, secured the third quickest time with Richie Stanaway coming in at 2:05.506s in the #99 car.
GTE-Am was led by the Larbre Competition Corvette, driven by Paolo Ruberti.
Ruberti’s 2:06.039s lap was enough to mingle with the Pro Ferraris and Aston Martins, but still only just edged out the championship-leading SMP Racing Ferrari of Andrea Bertolini which concluded the morning three hundredths behind.
The FIA WEC 6 Hours of Shanghai will get underway on Sunday, November 1 at 11:00 local time (03:00 UK).
6 Hours of Shanghai FP1 Results
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