Matt Campbell was fastest in the #5 factory Porsche 963 LMDh in the 90-minute session as the German manufacturer maintained its monopoly of top spot in the timesheets at the Losail International Circuit since the start of the two-day pre-season test on Monday.
The Australian posted a 1m42.486s to end up fastest, though Ferrari diver James Calado ran him close after a series of improvements late in the session.
Calado jumped from third to second in the times with a 1m42.561s in the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar to demote the second Porsche Penske Motorsport entry driven by Kevin Estre.
The Briton improved again to a 1m42.532s to end up less than five hundredths down on the Porsche in top spot.
Estre’s 1m42.695s was still good enough for third in the final FP1 classification, ahead of Alex Lynn in the Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R.
The Caddy driver improved to 1m42.962s as the clock counted down towards the end of the session.
The times were significantly slower than the best from the Prologue.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Campbell’s best was two seconds shy of Frederic Makowiecki’s 1m40.404s set on Tuesday afternoon.
Track temperatures were higher than on Tuesday, while high winds also afflicted the circuit.
The customer Porsches fielded in the WEC by the Proton and Jota teams took positions five to seven.
Harry Tincknell claimed fifth in the Proton car with a 1m43.026s, Jenson Button sixth in the #38 Jota entry on a 1m43.099s and Callum Ilott seventh in #12 on a 1m43.128s.
Kamui Kobayashi’s jumped to eighth with 1m43.202s at the end of the session aboard the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH.
Antonio Fuoco took ninth aboard the second AF Corse-run factory Ferrari, while Loic Duval rounded out the top 10 in the best of the Peugeot 9X8 LMHs.
#95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Joshua Caygill, Nicolás Pino, Marino Sato
Photo by: Erik Junius
The new LMGT3 class was led by the #95 United Autosport’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in which Nico Pino posted a 1m55.824s.
The two AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s took second and third positions, Alessio Rovera’s 1m55.983 edging out the 1m56.069s from Davide Rigon.
The Prodrive/AMR-run Heart of Racing and D’station Aston Martin Vantages took fourth and fifth positions in the hands of David Mancinelli and Erwan Bastard respectively.
The session was red-flagged three minutes early when Raffaele Marciello spun off in the #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh and got beached in the gravel trap.
There were two previous reds, one caused by an IT issue in race control and the other when a photographer strayed into a dangerous area.