AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG on top in Circuit Paul Ricard free practice

AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG on top in Circuit Paul Ricard free practice

AKKA ASP led the way on home turf this afternoon by topping a busy free practice at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The 90-minute run followed this morning's bronze test and was the first time that the full 47-car field had taken to the 5.8km track. The #88 Mercedes-AMG went top during the early stages thanks to Raffaele Marciello and his benchmark lap – a 1m53.942s – could not beat beaten, despite a busy session that remained green from start to finish.

Winward Racing ensured a Mercedes-AMG one-two and topped the Silver Cup classification in the process. The #57 entry got within 0.222s of the pace thanks to Philipp Ellis, maintaining the American squad's strong form following a podium finish last time out at Monza. 

A rapid late effort from Christopher Haase put the #25 Sainteloc Racing Audi third overall, followed by the #38 JOTA McLaren. The #30 Team WRT Audi completed the top-five thanks to James Pull and was also second-best of the Silver Cup runners. Aston Martin, Ferrari and Lamborghini were also represented among the overall top-10.

Sky Tempesta Racing topped free practice in Pro-Am having earlier led the bronze test. Chris Froggatt was at the wheel to put the #93 Ferrari an impressive 11th overall. Garage 59 was just two spots back with its Aston Martin, while the #10 Boutsen Ginion BMW was third in class. Full results can be viewed here.

Cars will be back on-track tonight at 20:40 for a 90-minute pre-qualifying. Live coverage will begin with tomorrow's qualifying session (10:45) and continues for the six-hour race, which gets underway at 18:00. All of action will be free to view on the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS website and across the championship's social media channels.