Rob Bell started the #59 McLaren 650S from pole, but it was third-place qualifier Jeroen Bleekemolen in the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes who emerged in the lead after the first corner. The Dutchman got past down the inside and didn’t look back, sitting on a lead of 2.7 seconds after 11 laps.
The second Black Falcon Merc, with Richard Muscat at the wheel, also had a good start, emerging in third after the first lap. The young Australian couldn’t mantain the position, however, and after 11 laps had lost places to both Michele Rugolo in the second-place qualifying #3 AF Corse Ferrari and Marco Frezza in the #11 Kessel machine. It wasn’t long before Marco Cioci in the #4 AF Corse 458 also found a way past.
Having started from the pitlane, Aditya Patel pitted the #75 ISR Audi with rear-end damage after running slowly for a couple of laps, but otherwise there were no major incidents in the opening laps.
On lap 13, third-place man Rugolo was comfortably the fastest man on track, reeling in Rob Bell who was in turn dropping back slightly from leader Bleekemolen. Fourth-place Marco Frezza was the leading Pro-Am runner at this point, while the GTC runners were headed by Christian Engelhart in the #33 MRS Porsche, just behind the #45 Avelon Formula Wolf leading the CN2 class.
By lap 16, Muscat had lost a place to yet another Ferrari (the #5 of Francesco Castellaci), while Rugolo made a move on Bell stick through T8, moving into second overall. Further down the field, MotoGP man Jorge Lorenzo in the #99 Kessel Ferrari slipped out of the top 10 as Marko Asmer in the GT Russian Team Mercedes got past. Bleekemolen’s lead at the front from Rugolo was now a shade under five seconds.
With just over 45 minutes of the race completed, the #48 Avelon Formula Wolf was recovered to the pits on a flatbed, the #46 and #47 CN2 runners also having made unscheduled stops by this points. Out on track, Cioci in the #4 AF Corse got past fellow Ferrari driver Frezza in the #11 Kessel to take fourth, while Rugolo had closed to within 3.8 seconds of Bleekemolen.
Elsewhere, the #75 ISR Audi still hadn’t emerged from the pits 30 minutes aftering entering. The final running car at this point was the #22 STP Porsche, which made an unscheduled early stop. The top 10 as the first hour drew to a close was Bleekemolen, Rugolo, Bell, Cioci (leading Pro-Am), Frezza, Castellaci, then Muscat. Stuart Hall was running eight in the #69 Gulf Lamborghini, ahead of Jordan Grogor in the #88 Dragon Ferrari and Asmer’s Mercedes. Engelhart in the #33 Porsche continued to lead GTC and held 16th overall.
At 55 minutes on the clock, the #47 Wolf left the track smoking heavily, the compact prototypes doing nothing to dispel their reputation for unreliability here.
SE
