4H Imola - Free Practice 2 - Champions lead the way !

Following Karun Chandok's best time of this morning, at the wheel of the No.48 Murphy Prototypes ORECA03 Nissan, it was Frenchman Nelson Panciatici who was rewarded with the fastest lap time of the day – 1:35.318 – driving the No.36 Signatech Alpine A450 Nissan. He beat the No.38 JOTA Sport Zytek Nissan Z11SN by just 0.095 seconds (Filipe Albuquerque) and the No.48 Murphy Prototypes ORECA03 Nissan.  French GP2 driver Nathanaël Berthon, who is very enthusiastic about and motivated by endurance racing, set the third best time of 1:35.531.  Fourth and fifth in this session were respectively Christian Klien (NewBlood by Morand Racing - 1:35.676) and Tristan Gommendy (Thiriet by TDS Racing - 1:35.827) were less than half a second away from the top of the time sheets ... there is every reason to look forward to the qualifying sessions to come.

 

The Russian SMP Racing team, which made its ELMS debut here at Imola last year, swept the board in both the LMGTE and GTC categories. Andrea Bertolini set the fastest time in LMGTE driving the No.72 Ferrari F458 Italia with a lap of the circuit in a time of 1:40.620, ahead of the No.80 Kessel Racing Ferrari (Giacomo Piccini) and the No.65 AF Corse of Raffaele Giammaria. There was only a whisker between the first three in LMGTE, with less than three tenths of a second between them.

 

Five other Ferraris followed, with the first Porsche (IMSA Performance Matmut's No.76 911 GT3 RSR) down in 9th position in class. The latter suffered an off-track excursion (into the gravel trap) which resulted in a red flag for a short period.In the GTC class SMP Racing took the top two spots thanks to the lap of 1:42.791 set by 2013 class champion Kirill Ladygin, driving the No.71 F458 Italia GT3, and that of his teammate Mika Salo driving the No. 57 (1:42.940).  Franck Perera claimed the third best time of the session, just over four tenths from the top (1:43.277) at the wheel of the Porsche 997 GT3R of French team Pro GT by Almeras.

 

In the GTC class SMP Racing took the top two spots thanks to the lap of 1:42.791 set by 2013 class champion Kirill Ladygin, driving the No.71 F458 Italia GT3, and that of his teammate Mika Salo driving the No. 57 (1:42.940).  Franck Perera claimed the third best time of the session, just over four tenths from the top (1:43.277) at the wheel of the Porsche 997 GT3R of French team Pro GT by Almeras.

 

The GTC times, like those in LMGTE, are very close and the teams are now ready for qualifying which will take place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari tomorrow morning.Following the two red flag periods of this morning, due to cars off track (No.78 BMW Team Russia by Barwell and No.80 Ferrari F458 of Kessel Racing), the second session was stopped three times.

 

The first was after the No.76 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of IMSA Performance Matmut went off, then because of the ‘off' of the No.93 Pro GT by Almeras Porsche GTC, and finally to remove debris on the track. This final red flag led to the clock being stopped for 5 minutes.Catch up with the stars of the weekend at 09h45 for the 20-minute qualifying session for cars in the LMGTE and GTC categories. 

 

The LMP2 prototypes will then take over at 10h15 for further 20 minutes which promise to be very exciting.The weather forecast is due to be clear and sunny, with little wind and temperatures similar to today.Spectators with paddock access will also have the opportunity to come and meet the European Le Mans Series' drivers, and to get up close to the cars during the 30-minute autograph session in the pit lane at 11h30.

 

The competitors will then line up for the 4 Hours of Imola, the departure for which will be given by reigning FIA World Endurance Champion Allan McNish (himself!) at 14h00.

 

Results from Free Practice 2 are available HERE