The first free practice session of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship season saw the no8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 of 2014 champion Sebastien Buemi head the timing sheets with a 1m40.104 lap, 0.7 seconds ahead of the no2 Porsche 919 hybrid of Brendon Hartley.

The new FIA World Endurance GT Championship also gets underway this weekend and Aston Martin has thrown down the gauntlet to their rivals at Ferrari, Ford and Porsche with Richie Stanaway heading the table with a 1m59.110 lap of the 5.9km Silverstone circuit.  The New Zealander’s best time was 0.3 seconds ahead of the two Ford GTs, with Billy Johnson one hundredth of a second ahead of Andy Priaulx in the sister car.

The no13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 07-Gibson was the fastest of the nine LMP2 competitors. Mathias Beche set a 1m45.913 lap, 0.2 seconds ahead of the no28 TDS Racing Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere and with the no37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Alex Brundle in third.

Aston Martin also took the top spot in LMGTE Am with Pedro Lamy setting a 1m59.342 in the no98 Vantage to set the second fastest time overall in the two LMGTE classes and 0.9 seconds ahead of the no86 Gulf Racing Porsche of Ben Barker and the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Matteo Cairoli.