Free Practice
Jake Dennis led a BMW 1-2 in opening practice at Monza, as 47 of the 52 cars were covered by under one second.
Dennis set a 1’45.087” aboard his Century Motorsport-run Paradine Competition M4 GT3 in the opening half of the two-hour session, going almost a second quicker than last year’s pole position time at the recently resurfaced ‘Temple of Speed’. Dennis, alongside co-drivers Toby Sowery and Darren Leung, competes in the Bronze Cup.
Second quickest was Sheldon van der Linde in Team WRT’s #32 M4 GT3, 0.096 seconds behind Dennis. Van der Linde, who topped the PRO category, was one of several drivers to improve in the closing minutes of the session.
Third, and fastest in the Silver Cup, was Mateo Llarena aboard GRT Grasser Racing Team’s #19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, ahead of Sandy Mitchell in Barwell Motorsport’s #78 Huracan.
Fabian Schiller (#2 M-AMG Team GetSpeed) was fifth, ahead of Jordan Pepper (#163 GRT Grasser Racing Team) and Ben Green (#36 Walkenhorst Motorsport), with Marco Sorensen in the championship-leading #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo rounding out the Top 8.
Fastest in the Gold Cup, in 17th overall, was Arthur Rougier aboard the #111 CSA Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.
The times were rounded out by Proton Competition’s Ford Mustang GT3, which is making up for lost time having missed most of Thursday’s Test Session due to an engine failure.
The session was interrupted by a pair of short Red Flags for single car incidents, as Patrick Kolb (#80 Lionspeed GP Porsche) and Christopher Haase (#99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi) both needed retrieving from the gravel after spins in the opening half an hour.
Pre-Qualifying
Jake Dennis was again fastest in Pre-Qualifying, setting a 1’45.306” aboard his #991 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3. Dennis went to the top of the timesheets with around a quarter of the hour-long session to go, shortly after the second of three Red Flag interruptions.
Gilles Magnus was second fastest and quickest in the Gold Cup aboard the #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, after setting a 1’45.544” late on in the session. The 0.238 second gap between first and second was the largest in the field, with only 1.680 seconds separating all 52 cars.
Sandy Mitchell was third in the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan, whilst Andrea Bertolini ended up in fourth after having been fastest for the majority of the session in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.
The top PRO category entry was Max Hesse in ROWE Racing’s #998 BMW M4 GT3, which finished fifth overall, ahead of SKY Tempesta Racing’s Eddie Cheever and Ivan Klymenko in the Silver Cup-leading #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi.
The first Red Flag occurred in the opening 10 minutes, when Tim Creswick’s #36 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin stopped on the racing line on the exit of the first Lesmo. Creswick was able to drive back to the pits after the Red Flag was deployed, and the car returned to the track later in the session.
The second, deployed at the half-way mark of the session, was to sweep gravel off the circuit on the exit of the second Lesmo, whilst the final stoppage was for Darren Leung in the session-topping Paradine Competition M4 GT3. Leung went off at Ascari with 10 minutes to go, but was able to recover the car from the gravel without assistance.
The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup field takes to the circuit again at 09:00 CEST tomorrow, for Qualifying ahead of the penultimate race of the season.
