The first 90-minute Free Practice session of the weekend ended with the two AF Corse Ferrari 458s at the head of the LMGTE timesheets with the no51 Ferrari of Toni Vilander and Gimmi Bruni ahead of their teammates Davide Rigon and James Calado in the no71 F458 Italia.
Vilander set the fastest time of the session, the Finn recording a 2m00.135s lap, 0.370 seconds ahead of Rigon’s best time in the no71 car.
The no51 suffered a suspected puncture late into the session and Bruni had to nurse the car back to the pits for a replacement.
The no92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR of Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet was third quickest, 0.629s behind the lead Ferrari and 0.5 seconds ahead of the 4th placed car and the top LMGTE Am runner, the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Mathias Lauda, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana.
Lamy’s best lap of 2m01.280s was fast enough to put him ahead of all but the fastest three GTE cars and ahead of the Pro class no97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Jonny Adam, who finished the session in 5th overall and 4th fastest in class.
The no50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette was 6th fastest in LMGTE overall and second quickest in the Am class. Paolo Ruberti’s lap of 2m01.417 was just 0.137s behind the no98 Vantage and 0.707 ahead of the no72 SMP Racing Ferrari, the class championship leaders, Victor Shaytar, Andrea Bertolini and Aleksey Basov finishing the Free Practice session in 3rd place in LMGTE Am and 9th in LMGTE overall.
The current LMGTE Drivers' Championship leader Richard Lietz and his partner Michael Christensen were 7th fastest with a best lap of 2m01.932 in the no91 Porsche Team Manthey 911, just 0.001s faster than the no99 Aston Martin Vantage of Fernando Rees, Alex MacDowall and Richie Stanaway.
The second 90-minute Free Practice session will take place at 19h30 this evening.
CLICK HERE for the results from Free Practice 1
