The second Free Practice session took place under cloudier skies at Imola this afternoon and with the extra cloud cover and ‘rubbered-in’ track the times tumbled from the first session earlier in the day.
Despite four red flag periods for cars stranded in gravel traps and debris on track the session saw an exciting climax in all three classes. Overall, the reigning champions Signatech Alpine confirmed their return to form by claiming the top position as Nelson Panciatici set a best of 1m35.318s. The Frenchman just eclipsed the Jota Sport Zytek-Nissan by 0.095s in the final ten minutes of the session when most cars elected to pit and provided a relatively quiet track for the Frenchman. At Jota Sport it was Felipe Albuqurque who set their best time as they work towards trying to making it two pole positions in as many years at the Circuit Enzo et Dino Ferrari.
What was doubly encouraging for the Jota Sport team was that Albuqurque set his fastest lap on medium tyres all-round, meaning that at the very least, more time is likely to come from them tomorrow if they elect for softs or a mixed set soft and medium Dunlop’s. Remember that the cars must start on the rubber that they have qualified on.
With a swap from Michelin to Dunlop tyres confirmed just before the Imola weekend, Signatech spent much of the morning evaluating their new rubber, eventually coming up with a favourable set-up that Panciatici was able to exploit. The Alpine A450 Nissan was particularly impressive through the Tamburello and Villeneuve complexes where it seemed to have greater dexterity on direction change and traction.
“My lap was nice and clear, I was fortunate,” said Panciatici. “The car felt nice when I got that clear lap opportunity. I was not completely at maximum so it looks good for us in qualifying trim for tomorrow. We have some knowledge of working with Dunlop in 2012 so that is not a problem. Still we need some more knowledge but as this is a short championship the team had to react and move quickly so the decision was made last week to move suppliers.”
Much of the 90-minute session had been headed by the New Blood by Morand Racing Morgan-Judd as Christian Klien was the first driver to break in to the 1m35s bracket. The Austrian peaked at a 1m35.676s before handing over to his team mates Gary Hirsch and Romain Brandela. The turquoise Morgan eventually ended the session in 4th place.
“The car feels consistent on the soft Dunlops but we still have more time to come for sure in qualifying tomorrow,” said Klien after the session. “It is really tricky getting a clear lap here with 37 cars on track. The circuit is now grippier of course than this morning but at the same time there is much more rubbish and debris off-line. It is pros and cons I guess but the same for everyone out there.”
Ahead of New Blood by Morand in 3rd overall was the Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissan. Karun Chandhok and Rodolfo Gonzalez did most of the early running before team new boy Nathanael Berthon took over and immediately made an impression by setting a best of 1m35.531s on mixed medium and soft compound tyres. It was another impressive performance from the Irish team who will be in the mix for a crack at victory come tomorrow afternoon.
“I really enjoyed driving the car, it was very consistent and I just know I am going to love driving the Oreca-Nissan,” said Berthon. “The FP2 session time was great even though the traffic was tough. I believe we can do it and challenge for pole. I am ready!”
Completing the top five were Silverstone victors and also last year’s Imola winners, Thiriet by TDS Racing. Tristan Gommendy set a series of purple sector times during his stint at the wheel and claimed a best lap of 1m35.827s in the Oreca-Nissan which his likely to be having its swansong this weekend before the team switches its attention to the new Ligier JC P2 Coupe.
Just 0.509s separated these top five at the front of the field which bodes well for a close and fascinating battle over four hours of racing tomorrow afternoon.
In the LMGTE class the pace and positioning at the top was just as intense and a battle royal played out between the SMP, AF Corse, Kessel and JMW Ferrari teams.
Once again it was the SMP Racing squad that came out on top with Andrea Bertolini showing his perennial class with a rapid 1m40.620s lap.
“It was good but still a little compromised with some traffic but on the whole I am happy for me and the team regarding this effort today,” said Bertolini. “It puts us in a good position for qualifying tomorrow morning and then for the race. We want to go one step better than Silverstone of course. It will be a big battle between us and many other Ferraris, I am sure of that.”
The time set by Bertolini’s SMP Racing Ferrari just eclipsed the #80 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Giacomo Piccini and Michael Broniszewski. Piccini looked to have claimed P1 in the closing stages of the session but Bertolini hooked up that ‘special one’ to snatch the top position.
Rounding out the top three was Raffaele Giammaria who set a 1m40.966 in the #65 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia. The bespectacled Italian was only a late addition to the driving squad along with Peter Mann and Lorenzo Case but got the job done to show he will be a threat for a crack at pole position in the LMGTE class tomorrow.
Also enjoying a strong session this afternoon was the JMW Ferrari of George Richardson, Daniel McKenzie and Daniel Zampieiri. ‘Danny Z’ set the best lap with a 1m41.132s effort, the Roman showing some searing consistency whether in traffic or not. Team manager Tim Sugden was confident even before the session had begun and told DSC. “All three drivers are doing a very good job indeed here. The Michelin tyres are working well on the car and we are getting quicker and quicker. It is a nice pace of progression for us and I think we will be in great shape going in to the race.”
In the GTC class it was again the #71SMP Racing Ferrari of Kiril Ladygin, Aleksey Basov and Luca Persiani that ruled the roost with their patriotic Russian liveried Ferrari 458 Italia. Aiming to avenge the ignominy of failing to start from a well-earned pole position at Silverstone last month, the trio are doubly hungry to complete the job at Imola.
Just behind the SMP Racing Ferrari was the sister #57 SMP car, which is making its 2014 ELMS debut after missing the Silverstone event. Mika Salo, Maurizio Mediani and Boris Rotenberg were all delighted to be so well placed after losing out on some potentially quick laps when red flags were unfurled multiple times during the session. The team had some late drama when the car shed its front right wheel at Rivazza but Mediani was able to get back to the pits safely.
Honourable mentions should go to the Team Russia by Barwell team as Mark Lemmer’s men did a stirling job to repair a damaged BMW Z4 GT3 between sessions. The Jonny Cocker, Leo Machitski and Timur Sadarov driven car ended the session .
There were incidents aplenty during the 90-minutes with the most spectacular incident involving the #85 Gulf Racing Aston Martin driven at the time by Roald Goethe. The car appeared to suffer a delamination of it right front tyre on the main straight which sent the German on a very hairy ride while flat out. The team will have a late night fixing resulting damage to the right front corner of the car.
Tomorrow’s action starts with LMGTE and GTC qualifying at 09.45 cet followed by LMP2 qualifying at 10.15 cet. Each session will 20-minutes long.
For the full minute by minute story of Free Practice 2 click on to www.twitter.com/dscracelive
