The Italian GT Championship (CIGT) Endurance is back from its summer break, and Friday’s opening practice at Imola belonged to Ariel Levi and Rafael Duran. On a hot day in Emilia-Romagna, with track temperatures nudging 50 degrees at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Ariel Levi was quickest in the morning and Rafael Duran went fastest of all in the twice red-flagged afternoon session, the two drivers trading the top spot between the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 and the #50 Spirit of Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
GT3
Levi struck first, hauling the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi he shares with Andrea Frassineti and Alex Aka to the top of opening practice in 1:42.417. Rafael Duran answered in the afternoon, setting the quickest time of the day at 1:42.346 in the #50 Spirit of Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 he shares with David Perel, and it took until the closing minutes to arrive: Duran edged the #33 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Murat Çuhadaroğlu, David Fumanelli and Marco Pulcini by 0.040s, with the #25 Dragon Racing Ferrari of Xolile Letlaka, Axcil Jefferies and Stuart White third and the #99 Audi fourth.
The pace ran deep through the Ferrari, BMW and Lamborghini runners. The championship leaders, though, had a quiet day: Edoardo Liberati, Mattia Michelotto and Ignazio Zanon, winners of the 3 Hours of Monza in their #66 VSR Lamborghini Huracán GT3, spent Friday well outside the leading times and with work to do before qualifying.
GT Cup
In the GT Cup, the outright quickest lap belonged to the #231 Krypton Motorsport Ferrari 296 Challenge of Francesco Galli, Simone Iaquinta and Luigi Ferrara, whose afternoon 1:43.485 was good enough for 15th overall and the fastest Division 1 Am time. Raffaele Vitale and Nicola De Marco led the opening session and topped Division 1 Pro-Am in their #107 Rossocorsa Ferrari 296 Challenge, while in Division 2 the #577 Tsunami Porsche 911 GT3 Cup set the Am benchmark and the #433 SR&R Ferrari 488 Challenge headed Pro-Am.
Qualifying ahead
Imola is the third of four endurance rounds and the penultimate before the Mugello finale on 1 November. After a final early morning practice session, qualifying follows on Saturday at 14:00 CEST ahead of Sunday’s three-hour race starting at 12:05 CEST.
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