Action Packed First Free Practice Session in Italy

At the end of Free Practice the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier-Nissan was at the top of the timing screens with former ELMS champion Paul Loup Chatin posting a 1m34.435 lap with five minutes left on the clock and faster than last year’s pole time of 1m34.496.  Chatin finished the session 0.805s ahead of the no33 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca-Nissan of Tristan Gommendy, with the no46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca third quickest, 1.1s behind the fastest car and 0.3s ahead of the Murphy Prototypes Oreca.  Silverstone race winners G-Drive Racing were sixth fastest with Giedo Van Der Garde settinga 1m36.032 lap, just 0.1 behind reigning champion Bjorn Wirdheim in the no40 Krohn Racing Ligier in fifth overall.

The LMP3 time sheets were led by the no11 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan, with Giorgio Mondini heading the large 20 car entry for the LMP3 class by setting a 1m40.099, just 0.069 ahead of Alex Brundle in the no2 United Autosports Ligier.  The Silverstone race winners were just 0.103 ahead of the third fastest car, the no19Duqueine Engineering Ligier of Dino Lunardi.

In LMGTE it was the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 of Andrea Bertolini who topped the class in 26^th overall, 0.316s and four places ahead of the nearest rival, the no60 Formula Racing Ferrari of Mikkel Mac, the Dane, and reigning LMGTE Champion, setting a 1m42.578 lap.  The third placed car was the no88 Proton Competition Porsche of Klaus Bachler, 0.096s ahead of the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Rui Aguas.  Aguas’ Italian teammate Marco Cioci was driving with a broken foot but the Italian still managed to post the sixth best time in LMGTE during the session.

The second Free Practice session will take place tomorrow morning at 09h35, with qualifying for the 4 Hours of Imola starting at 13h50 in the afternoon.

CLICK HERE for the results from Free Practice 1