4H Imola - First Free Practice, teams are getting ready

Designed to allow drivers to find their bearings on track, often being the first chance for some new to the track, the free practice sessions are also an opportunity for teams to technically set up their cars for qualifying and the race.

And so it was that Irish team Murphy Prototypes (Rodolfo Gonzalez, Karun Chandok, Nathanaël Berthon) set the fastest time of the session, 1:36.337 with the No.48 ORECA03 Nissan.  Paul-Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici and Oliver Webb put the No.36 Alpine A452 in second place with a time of 1:36.693, followed by the No.38 Zytek Nissan Z11SN of JOTA Sport (Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Filipe Albuquerque).

Ferrari, omni-present at Imola with 18 cars in LMGTE and GTC, took the first three places in the LMGTE category. The No.72 SMP Racing F458 (Andrea Bertolini, Viktor Shaitar, Sergey Zlobin) was ahead of the No.80 Kessel Racing entry driven by Michael Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini. The Austrian AT Racing team was third with the No.56 Ferrari 458 Italia in the hands of Belarussian father and son, Alexander Talkanitsa Sr and Jr and German Pierre Kaffer.

SMP Racing also grabbed first place in the GTC class.  Anton Ladygin, Oliver Beretta and David Markosov placed the No.73 F458 Italia GT3 at the top of the timesheets, but Porsche is already demonstrating that there will be a battle for the top spot. The No.93 997 GT3R of Pro GT by Almeras took second place (Lucas Lasserre, Franck Perera, Eric Dermont) ahead of the No.95 AF Corse F458 GT3 of Belgian and Monegasque duo Adrien de Leener and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.

The second free practice session will begin at 15h45 for 90 minutes.  In the meantime, spectators in the Imola grandstands can enjoy the second free practice session for the Porsche Carrera Cup France, as well as the series' two qualifying practice sessions at 14h35 and 15h05.

Results can be found online HERE.