After the first 90 minutes of free practice for the 6 Hours of Silverstone, held in sunny but breezy conditions, it was Porsche Team Manthey at the head of the time sheets.
In fact, Patrick Pilet in the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR was the only LMGTE driver to dip below the 2-minute mark, the Frenchman setting a fastest time in the LMGTE Pro category of 1:58.981. He shares the Porsche this weekend with Jörg Bergmeister and Nick Tandy – the Briton here (together with Richard Lietz in the No.92) as a dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Marco Holzer set the second fastest time in the Pro category, 2:00.455, which was only 0.064s ahead of the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in the hands of Toni Vilander. The Finn will this year share the Ferrari with World GTE Champion Gianmaria Bruni. Only three tenths of a second behind the factory-supported Ferrari was the privateer Pro entry of Ram Racing, the No.52 recording a fastest time of 2:00.803 in the hands of Alvaro Parente.
In LMGTE Am, Ferrari held the upper hand – 2013 GP2 Championship runner up Sam Bird leading the way in the No.81 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia he shares with Michele Rugolo and Australian Steve Wyatt. The British driver set a best time of 2:01.210 – placing him amid the Pro entries – and 0.81s ahead of the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of Bachler-Ried-Al Qubaisi. Third in class was the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Perez Companc-Cioci-Venturi with a best time of 2:02.033 – the Porsche and the Ferrari being separated by only one hundredth of a second.
The second 90 minutes of practice will take place at 15:55 hrs this afternoon (local time) and full results can be found HERE.
Photo: SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT (SILVERSTONE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, UK) 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, FRIDAY 18 APRIL 2014. It is all-action in the Porsche Team Manthey pit garage as the No.91 prepares to go into Free Practice 1.
