Ivan Bellarosa, Alessandro Latif and Ryan Cullen were fastest in their Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 in Free Practice 1 for the Gulf 12 Hours. The CN car was on top of the time-sheets at the end of the first two hours on the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi and lapped the 5,555m long circuit in 2:10.142. It should be said though that no technical checks were performed before this practice session and it was only the first session.
Kessel Racing was fastest in the GT3 category with the number 11 Ferrari 458 GT3 of Michael Broniszewski, Daniel Zampieri and Cesar Ramos beating their team-mates Kola Aluko, Thomas Kemenater and Giacomo Piccini by just a tenth of a second. Defending Gulf 12 Hours champions AF Corse was third fastest. The two other Kessel Racing cars and the Dragon Racing car made it a Ferrari top 6 in GT3.
Behind the Ferrari’s it was the all-new Bentley Continental GT3 that took eighth overall, the only non-Ferrari to make it into the 2:12s. The Bentley completed 33 (almost) trouble-free laps around the Yas Marina Circuit and kept improving its fastest lap time as the session progressed. The fastest time of the Bentley was set on lap 27, a 2:12.912.
Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 was ninth fastest, ahead of the Gulf Racing UK McLaren MP4-12C GT3.
Marcel ten Caat (@dsceuroeditor)
