The second free practice for the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series turned out to be a very wet affair. From light rain to heavy downpour halfway through, the drivers of the 39 cars entered in the first meeting of 2016 had plenty of time to get used to the wet conditions.
With the rain intensity increasing after twenty minutes, it was no surprise that the times set in the opening part of the session were good enough to hold the top positions for almost the complete second free practice. But the fastest time came after the chequered flag had dropped, with Laurens Vanthoor lapping the 4,226 km Misano track in 1'51.769. The Belgian beat Rob Bell's 1'52.125 (at the wheel of the #58 Garage 59 McLaren) and the 1'52.316 of Jazeman Jaafar in the #85 HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG. Another excellent performance came from Luca Stolz in the #19 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini: the quickest of the Silver Cup drivers was ninth overall as well.
Fastest time in the Pro-Am Cup went to Sebastian Asch in the #36 Team a-workx Porsche, while the #963 X-Bionic Racing Team Lamborghini had the fastest time in the Am Cup. Unfortunately the Huracan went off halfway through the session, causing a red flag interruption.
Saturday sees the Qualifying for the first Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup meeting at 14.15, with the start of the Qualifying Race at 20.50 local time.
Both sessions will be streamed live on the official website www.blancpain-gt-series.com.
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Provisional Timetable
Saturday April 9th
Qualifying : 14 :15 – 15 :10 (Live TV)
Track Walk & Autograph session: 19:20 - 20:10
Qualifying Race : 20 :50 – 21 :50 (Live TV)
Sunday April 10th
Warm up : 09 :45 – 10 :05
Main Race : 14 :15 – 15 :15 (Live TV)
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