V de V gets up to speed at Paul Ricard

The opening outing in GT/Touring car/LMP3 saw a fierce battle between the #1 Ferrari 488 GT3 of team Visiom, driven by Pagny, Perrier and Bouvet and rivals AF Corse, with their #51 Ferrari 458 GT3, entrusted to Cordoni, Montermini and Zanuttini at Paul Ricard.

Before arriving at the Circuit 'Paul Ricard' the Ginetta G57 proved unstoppable over one lap but the Ligier JS P3 has taken an advantage on the French track. The quickest time in morning practice, set by new team Kox Racing - whose driver line-up includes Kox and Pronk this weekend, was beaten by Fontaine, Decultot and Perroy in the latter session, who sit behind the wheel of the N'Race #93 LMP3 car.

Nevertheless Ginetta remained competitive throughout the sessions as Simpson and Tomlinson, at the helm of Simpson Motorsport's #57 car placed the prototype in 2nd position on the timesheets.

6 Hours of V de V Proto Endurance: TFT's unstoppable line-ups

TFT, victorious at both Barcelona and Le Mans, showed their impress pace once again after the #8 Norma M20 FC driven by Capillaire, Lacoste and Da Cunha set the fastest time overall, before teammates Vilarino, Fert? and Illiano, at the helm of the #2 sister Norma, put their names at the top of the timesheets in Private Practice 2.

Despite leading the category, the team continue to find themselves under threat from CD Sport and DB Autosport, also in possession of Norma prototypes, as in turn both teams set the second fastest time of the session: first, the #32 CD Sport machine in the hands of Maulini, Bole Besan?on and Foubert, then DB Autosport quickly hurried to take the place back from them in the afternoon however, and it was the #22 prototype in the hands of Delafosse, Dannielou and Petersen who succeeded in doing so.

Finally within the Prestige class, the #67 Norma belonging to Team One and its drivers R. Striebig, G. Striebig and Raffin managed to secure the highest spot, taking the advantage over the #31 car of drivers Cochet, Kirchdoerffer and Faure.

The French team held during practice but it was the #70 Dodge Viper GT3-R of ANTeam and drivers Stucky and Yerly who produced the fastest time. In Private Practice 1, the #45 Renault R.S. 01 of team AB Sport Auto was just outside of the top 3 fastest runners, however in the afternoon session, drivers Thybaud, Proust and Jousse seized the moment, making the most of the cooler temperatures, and placed the car at the top of the time sheets.

Visiom's Ferrari set the second fastest time, just two tenths from the French GT car, and rounding up the top 3 in this session was the new Porsche 911 GT3-R (#76) of team IMSA Performance, in the hands of Narac and Cornac. GTV2 was dominated by IDEC Sport Racing's Porsche 997 Cup car, whose line up this weekend includes Alloin, Enjalbert and Kox, and in the S1 class, GPC Motorsport's Vortex was the quickest on track in morning practice. The car driven by Forgione and Alexander David was however trumped by Dog Racing's SF V8 machine in the afternoon.