+ Result: Pre-Qualifying, Misano
A great effort from Charlie Hart helped the RAFA Racing by RACE LAB team lead the way in Misano Pre-Qualifying, with the #812 McLaren coming out on top of a tight session.
Hart’s late best put him just 0.041s ahead of the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG of Lluc Ibañez and Alex Papadopulos, which secured a race win at the Italian venue last season.
The early stages of the session became a fight between Benjamin Lariche in the #3 Team Speedcar Audi and Hart, as the pair traded the top time, with Hart having one of his best efforts scrubbed for track limits.
Ricardo van der Ende (L’Espace Bienvenue BMW) then got involved, putting the #17 BMW ahead before Julius Dinesen made it two RAFA McLarens in the lead fight. The Papadopulos/Ibañez Mercedes-AMG then improved and looked to have settled the contest before Hart got one final run in with seven minutes remaining to sneak in front.
Gregory Guilvert and Paul Petit were third in their Team Speedcar Audi, ahead of the sister car of Lariche and Robert Consani. Dinesen and Aston Millar wound up fifth for RAFA, ahead of the Elite Motorsport McLaren shared by McKenzy Cresswell and Josh Rattican.
Stanislav Safronov helped Mirage Racing to the front of the Pro-Am order, finishing ninth overall in the Aston Martin he shares with Aleksandr Vaintrub. The Razoon – more than racing BMW of Önder Erdem and Gutavo Xavier was second, with Continental Racing’s BMW shared by Vasily Vladykin/Mikhail Loboda third. The contest was wide open after Hendrik Still/Joachim Bölting’s dominant W&S Porsche was ruled out with a suspension problem after just a few laps.
Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn evened the score in the Am class. Having finished behind their title rivals in Free Practice, the #317 Chazel Technologie Course BMW grabbed top spot this time, with Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle second in their W&S Porsche. Philippe Thalamy/Julien Ripert were third for Team Speedcar.
Qualifying is the opening session of Saturday, with action set to begin at 09:00.
