History was made this morning at Circuit Barcelona de Catalunya as the LMGT3 machines took to the tarmac for the very first bespoke 60-minute Free Practice session, and it was a Prancing Horse machine setting the benchmark. In dry but misty conditions, the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 Evo LMGT3 car showed the way forward, posting a best lap of 1m41.696s thanks to the driving crew of Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera, and Francois Heriau. It was Mann who ultimately claimed the accolade for the quickest individual lap of the session.
Right behind them, the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG entry kept the pressure on, finishing 0.4s back. The three-pointed star marque proved they are maintaining serious momentum after showing strong pace in the opening two practice sessions on Friday. Meanwhile, Akkodis ASP Lexus demonstrated consistent speed as the #87 Lexus shared by Jose-Maria Lopez, Clemens Schmid, and Petru Umbrarescu locked down third place.
McLaren also made their presence felt at the sharp end. The #58 Garage 59 car grabbed fourth position as Alexander West, Benjamin Goethe, and Finn Gehrsitz look to bounce back following the huge race-ending accident that befell them at Fuji. Fifth place went to the highest-placed Proton Competition Ford Mustang, the #88 entry driven by Logan Sargeant, Giammarco Levorato, and Stefano Gattuso.
Further down the top ten, the Heart of Racing Aston Martin squad secured sixth place with the #23 Vantage crewed by Eduardo Barrichello, Gray Newell, and Jonny Adam, who are aiming to fight back after a rare retirement at Fuji last month. The second VISTA AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, and Davide Rigon took seventh as they attempt to end an 11-race win famine for the Prancing Horse in LMGT3.
Rounding out the top tier, the 2025 title-winning #92 Porsche crept into the top ten in eighth position, just ahead of the #69 Team WRT BMW in ninth and the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus in tenth. It was a vastly different story for the championship points-leading #33 TF Sport Corvette, however, as they once again struggled to break into the leading bunch and could only manage 15th fastest out of the 18 runners.
