FIA GT3, Navarra - Free Practice Report

For the first time this season the FIA GT3 European Championship had an Audi and a Lamborghini topping the time sheets. At a warm Navarra circuit the Sainteloc and Reiter teams managed to get their cars to the front of the field. With the All-Inkl.com cars already fastest in the two GT1 sessions the Spanish circuits really suits the Lamborghinis.

In the first free practice session the Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS of Dino Lunardi and Jerome Demay was the quickest car on the Spanish circuit. Under clear skies and with the sun shining bright the #15 Audi was just a few hundredths of a second quicker than the second placed Ferrari 458 Italia of Federico Leo and Francesco Castellacci. Dino Lunardi set a 1:41.224 just before the end of the session, pushing the #50 AF Corse Ferrari down into second position. Mike Parisy and Philipe Giauque finished the session in third place, exactly four tenths behind the Ferrari.

The session was stopped once when the #8 LMP Aston Martin DBRS9 got stuck in the gravel trap and the red flags were shown in order to get the car and its driver into a safe place.

In the second session, which started at half past six in the evening, it was the The Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof and Albert von Thurn und Taxis was the fastest car. On the 3.9 kilometers long circuit the #24 Lamborghini set a 1:40.372, which was 0.145 seconds quicker than the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Leo and Castellacci. Third quickest was the Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Parisy and Giauque, another tenth of a second behind the fastest car.

The quickest Audi in the second session was the #15 Sainteloc Audi R8 LMS in fourth, with the WRT Audi of Enzo Ide and Greg Franchi finishing fifth.

Qualifying for the two races at the Navarra circuit this weekend will take place at 09:15 tomorrow morning.