The Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 car of Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy topped the times in the hour-long practice session for the Fanatec GT World Challenge at Brands Hatch this morning.
Marciello recorded the car’s best time, with his 1m22.511s being almost seven tenths of a second faster than the field, after a quick run mid-session.
It was much closer from second position downwards, with the Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS of Christopher Mies and Gregoire Demoustier in second place and 0.150s faster than the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Alex Aka and Lorenzo Patrese.
They were 0.090s clear of the Haupt Racing Mercedes of Jordan Love and Frankie Bird, with the latter having topped the times in the opening stages of the session.
The Mercedes was just half a tenth clear of Aurelien Panis and Alberto Di Folco in the Boutsen VDS Audi, and just one thousandth of a second ahead of the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari of Albert Costa and Thierry Vermeulen.
Patric Niederhauser and Erwan Bastard’s Sainteloc Audi was next up and just 0.037s behind, and 0.066s clear of Tresor Orange 1’s similar machine of Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi.
Giacamo Altoe and Konsta Lappalainen’s Emil Frey Racing Ferrari and the Comtoyou Racing Audi of Frederic Vervisch and Nicolas Baert completed the top-10.
The session was interrupted by a couple of red flags, the first coming when the #90 Mercedes of Jesse Salmenautio collided with the #163 Lamborghini of Yuki Nemoto at Paddock Hill Bend with 22 minutes remaining. Whilst that was quickly cleared up, another red flag was shown when the #71 Ferrari of Nicola Mariangeli spun exiting Sheene Curve.
The hour-long Pre-Qualifying session is next up at 12.45, before qualifying at 15.55.
Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS, Sprint Cup free practice result:
1. Raffaele Marciello/Timur Boguslavskiy, Mercedes AMG GT3, 1m22.511s
2. Christopher Mies/Gregoire Demoustier, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, +0.686s
3. Alex Aka/Lorenzo Patrese, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, +0.836s
4. Jordan Love/Frankie Bird, Mercedes AMG GT3, +0.926s
5. Aurelien Panis/Alberto Di Folco, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, +0.977s
6. Albert Costa/Thierry Vermeulen, Ferrari 296 GT3, +0.978s
7. Patric Niederhauser/Erwan Bastard, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, +1.015s
8. Ricardo Feller/Mattia Drudi, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, +1.081s
9. Giacomo Altoe/Konsta Lappalainen, Ferrari 296 GT3, +1.136s
10. Frederic Vervisch/Nicolas Baert, Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, +1.169s
Click here for full results from the event.
Tickets for the Fanatec GT World Challenge at Brands Hatch on 13/14 May are available on the gate all weekend. Click here for more information.