The first of the three sessions saw the Bronze-rated drivers battle it out in GTE AM.

After a thrilling 15 minutes, it was Iron Dames’ Porsche 911 RSR 19 that emerged as the pole sitter.
It was achieved after a superb performance in the first qualifying session of the season from Sarah Bovy.

It was a shootout between Bovy and Corvette Racing’s Ben Keating after their tires got up to temperature, Bovy setting the best time and with two minutes to go, a 1m58.949s.
After multiple improvements by both drivers throughout the session, the pair trading the provisional pole position, her time bettered Keating’s best effort in the C8.R by four-tenths.

“It’s amazing, Sarah is doing very well,” said Bovy’s teammate Rahel Frey. “She loves it, but the time to celebrate is tomorrow.”

Third in the running was the ORT by TF Aston Martin, which made it three makes in the top three.

Ahmad Al Harthy, in his first WEC qualifying session, will be full of confidence ahead of his world championship race debut tomorrow. It also marked a significant improvement for the Vantages, which had struggled to find pace until today’s track action.

Making it four in the top four, in fourth, was Luis Perez Companc in the Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari.