Polish team Olimp Racing topped the second International GT Open free practice session in the scenic hills of Portimão.
Marcin Jedliński and Karol Basz’s #777 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo earned first place with their 1:42.559 lap time, headlining the Pro-Am and Am categories with previous and current generations of Ferrari’s latest GT3 racer.
A lively and energetic grid graced the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve for another 60-minute practice session, with a second covering an impressive 16 cars.
Despite only one disruption in the form of a Full Course Yellow after 15 minutes of the session had elapsed.
This was to remove debris on the right-hand side of Turn 4, a left-handed bend situated just after Lagos.
Whilst only four minutes long, it brought to attention the track limits excursions that drivers were experimenting with, especially into Primeira and Turn 4.
Michaël Blanchemain and Jim Pla followed suit in second position overall and in the Pro-Am category, putting their #26 Saintéloc Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2 only 0.047 seconds behind the #777 Ferrari, boasting a 1:42.606.
Third fastest overall was the #28 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Marcelo Ramírez and Dominik Baumann, which was also the quickest car in the Pro category (1:42.647).
Into Africa Racing by Dragon took fourth position, third in Pro-Am, in their #25 Ferrari 296 GT3 with a 1:42.747 lap time by Xolile Letlaka and Axcil Jefferies.
Their Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo crashed yesterday in testing, a chassis that doubtlessly raced last week at the GT World Challenge Europe opener. This led them to use their spare car, a pre-generation Ferrari 296, for the rest of this race meeting.
Maximilian Götz and Christian Mansell claimed fifth position overall, second in Pro, after a 1:42.764 lap time in their #71 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG.
ZRS Motorsport’s Pro-class entered #911 Porsche 911 GT3.R Evo, of Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana, finished sixth overall after their fastest time of 1:42.824.
Greystone GT’s Zak Meakin and Dean Macdonald took seventh place, fourth in Pro, with a 1:42.888 in their #33 McLaren GT3 Evo.
Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon knocked out eighth position for Elite Motorsport after a 1:42.944 lap time at the wheel of their #17 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo,
Father-son pairing Darren and James Kell finished ninth overall and fourth in Pro-Am in their #88 Track Focused McLaren, with a 1:43.074.
Olimp Racing’s #5 Ferrari 296 GT3 topped the Am category and 10th in the overall order, owing to the effort of Stanislaw Jedliński and Krystian Korzeniowski.
In fact, the top three in the Am category were pre-generation Ferraris, as Marcelo Hahn and Galid Osman came 17th overall in the #16 AF Corse (1.43.723), followed by Baron Motorsport’s #6 father-son duo, Andrzej and Adrian Lewandowski, in 19th overall.
As in FP1, #29 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG is not competing due to being unable to finalise a driver deal, whilst the #63 Scuderia Testa Villorba Corse suffered a difficult start to their Lamborghini journey with a technical problem in testing yesterday and has withdrawn from the event.
Finally, the #917 AF Motorsport Porsche 991.2 GT3.R has also suffered problems, but expects to be back on track tomorrow for qualifying at 10:05 local time.
Team ISR’s Milota quickest in FP3 Bronze Test
Libor Milota went quickest during the 40-minute third and final free practice outing, which followed soon after FP2, where Bronze-graded drivers could participate in a lesser pressure environment.
Only the Pro-Am and Am categories utilise Bronze-graded drivers, with the latter composed solely of Bronze-graded line-ups, so there were fewer participants and thus track activity.
Track limits were still a key theme, with the #5 Olimp Racing Ferrari (Am), the #11 Fach Auto Tech (Pro-Am) and the #81 Norik Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (Pro-Am) all awarded five-minute stop-and-go penalties for abusing track limits.
Milota’s Pro-Am-entered #75 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 completed a benchmark 1:42.718 lap time, putting it ahead of the Am-entered #6 Baron Motorsport Ferrari (Andrzej and Adrian Lewandowski), which set a 1:42.893.
Briton Charles Bateman finished third in his #97 Blackthorn Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo from his 1:43.053 time.
Joel Monegro took fourth in the #12 Fach Auto Porsche 911 GT3.R Evo (1:43.181) as Michaël Blanchemain rounded out the top five in the #26 Saintéloc Audi (1:43.293).
