Meloni, from San Marino, topped the timing screens with a fastest time of 1m42.481s. His time was 0.076 seconds quicker than V8 Racing driver Thijmen Nabuurs and 0.207s ahead of early pacesetter Gabriele Piana (#111 RN Vision STS BMW).
On his second-to-last lap in the one-hour practice session, Meloni managed to improve the fastest time at that moment, set early in the session by Gabriele Piana. Nabuurs put in the second-fastest time in the last minutes of the session.
It was the first time this season that the #111 RN Vision STS Racing BMW wasn’t the leading Silver Cup entry at the end of an official session this season.
Fourth on track and third in Silver was the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG of Lluc Ibanez, with Valentin Hasse-Clot putting his AGS Events Aston Martin Vantage in fifth place overall on the Italian circuit.
Joël Camathias was the fastest driver in the Pro-Am class. The Swiss driver lapped the 4.226-kilometre Misano circuit in a time of 1m43.078s. Nicolaj Møller-Madsen was second fastest at 0.181s, despite having to serve a five-minute stop-and-go for exceeding track limits.
The #8 CMR Toyota GR Supra GT4 was eighth fastest, followed by the #22 Allied Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR. The #89 AGS Events Aston Martin Vantage completed the top ten in the opening session.
Sixteen of the nineteen cars entered this weekend finished the first session within two seconds of each other. The second practice session will take place later today, with the lights set to go green at 16.30
RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 1
Paolo Meloni sets the pace in opening practice at Misano
