Larbre Competition, whose driver Gabriele Gardel, is one of the seven fighting for the 2005 Drivers title, started the Dubai event by setting the best time in an extremely close session. With a lap of 1:58.389, the team was 0.176 of a second faster than the nr 2 GPC Sport Ferrari 575 M Maranello. The GLPK Carsport Corvette was third, the Vitaphone and JMB Maserati cars fourth and fifth, and the Russian Age Aston Martin DBR9 sixth.

This means that there were four different manufacturers and five different types of car in the top six, separated by just 0.76 seconds - which is extremely promising for Friday's race.

"So far it's going well," Lamy said. "The car feels good. But tomorrow is more important, and the most important result is the one on Friday. But the car is working well, and so are the tyres. I like the circuit, it's a bit difficult, with some strange braking points. It's technical, and very nice!"

In GT2, the two GruppeM cars were fastest, with the nr 66 setting a fastest time of 2:03.628, half a second ahead of the nr 88 car. The nr 90 Spyker Squadron was third-fastest, overtaking the nr 89 JMB Ferrari 360 at the end of the session. The Ebimotors car was fifth fastest.

The second session takes place on Thursday morning