A single flying lap was enough for Giancarlo Fisichella to comfortably top Blancpain GT Series free practice at Silverstone this morning ahead of tomorrow’s second Endurance Cup round of the season.
Franck Perera made much of the early running in his ISR Audi R8 LMS but was pushed down to second overall with little more than half of the 90-minute session remaining by Fisichella, whose 1m59.767s lap aboard the #53 AF Corse Ferrari 488 would remain the benchmark thereafter.
Perera’s best, set early in the session, was 0.4s shy of the Italian’s time but still good enough to seal second overall ahead of Marco Mapelli’s Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan. His lap, less than two tenths shy of Perera’s, ensured Pro Am-entered cars filled the top three positions overall.
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT were next up, Robin Frijns in the #2 R8 LMS leading the sister machine of Laurens Vanthoor, while a late effort from Patric Niederhauser vaulted his Attempto Racing Lamborghini Huracan into the top-six.
Team Parker Racing’s Chris Harris led the Am Cup standings for much of Free Practice before another late lap, this time from David Perel, helped his Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 snatch top spot and 30th overall.
Today’s 90-minute Pre-Qualifying session gets underway at 16:30 this afternoon. Watch it live here: http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live