The first Free Practice session at Imola saw plenty of action as the 30 car field took to the track in initially fully wet conditions, which then eventually began to see a ‘dry-ish’ line emerging. A few exploratory laps were conducted on slicks but the tarck was never really dry enough for any meaningful quick laps.
A final dash for quicker times in the last fifteen minutes appeared to be on the cards but a further short rain shower reduced speeds again.
Greaves Motorsport were second (on track) at the end of the slightly extended session which saw an extra 15-mins added after two red flags. The (on track) refers to the fact that Jon Lancaster’s time of 1m41.001s had headed the timing screens until it disappeared at the end of the session.
Confirmation came from the official time keepers that the lap was eventually cancelled as Lancaster had crossed the line just a matter of seconds after the second red flag was flown.
The cancellation of this time ensured that the Thiriet by TDS ORECA 05-Nissan was promoted to P1 with a 1m41.531 set by Pierre Thiriet when the track was at its driest. The French team arrived at Imola after a useful two-day test at Magny Cours last week where they worked on a variety of performance enhancing programmes which are scheduled to be validated when full dry running is possible here at Imola this weekend.
Jon Lancaster, driving the Greaves Gibson 015S had earlier acquainted himself with the 3.050s mile Imola track for the first time and immediately set a series of quick laps which peaked on that 1m41.001s time. The Yorkshireman, who spoke to DSC at length yesterday about his anticipation of driving the former Grand Prix venue, took no time at all to explore the limits and this time had been 0.530s quicker than the Thiriet by TDS ORECA 05-Nissan.
A surprising third in the LMP2 class was the Pegasus Racing Morgan-Nissan which actually topped the times for a period in the initial full wet running. Julien Schell set the best time of 1m42.998s.
In LMP3 it was another Team LNT 1-2 with the No.3 car of Charlie Robertson and Chris Hoy leading the way. Both are driving the track for the first time and an embarked on theirs voyages of discovery capably with Richardson setting an early benchmark of 1m54.670s. Hoy emerged from a quick spin at Rivazza as he explored the undulations of Imola.
Worthy of note was the performance of the Cetilar Villorba Corse squad which sat third in class with Roberto Lacorte setting a 1m56.554s lap.
The LMGTE class saw Alessandro Piergiudi show his undoubted class and local knowledge in the AF Corse run AT Racing Ferrari 458 Italia. The Italian was though slightly outpaced by the GTC top dog – the No. 63 AF Corse of Marco Cioci, who was a full 1.9s fastest!
It was a good session for AT Racing as Alexander Talkanista Jnr set the second quickest lap of the session on a 1m51.60s.
Cioci’s time meanwhile was a whopping 7.309s ahead of the TDS BMW, proving again that the Italian was on the track at exactly the right time in the AF Corse Ferrari.
The session was punctuated by several incidents. The first red flag was caused by the SVK by Speed Factory Ginetta-Nissan having a gravelly accident at Acqua Minerale with Jesus Fuster at the wheel. The car is expected to be repaired in time for the second session this afternoon.
The second stoppage occurred when the Alex Craven driven Lanan Racing Ginetta-Nissan collected the already spun Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan at Variante Alta.
Driving the Murphy LMP2 was Mark Patterson who spun harmless at the chicane and waited patiently to re-join the fray. However, under yellows, Craven also lost it and clipped Patterson ensuring that the green machine sustained some cosmetic damage to the front splitter. The Lanan car was however parked up for the session and the team is evaluating the damage for a possible re-emergence for FP2.
There were many other spins and excursions during the 1hr45mins session with Gary Hirsch having a lairy spin at the exit of Acqua Minerale and Nico Peter De Brujin kicking up the grass with a similar rotation at Tamburello.
Two cars failed to complete a lap with the No.62 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Stuart Hall unable to leave the garage with a mechanical problem.
The Massive Motorsport Aston-Martin did make it out on to the track but lasted only a few hundred metres before pulling off the circuit with an as yet unspecified problem. Aston Martin engineers were all over the car during the lunch break in an effort to rectify the issue.
Several teams presented themselves before the race director after the session for pit lane speeding infringements. These included the No.3 Team LNT entry, Villorba Corse and BMW Team Marc VDS.
The second Free Practice session begins at 15.00cet.
Sam Smith
