Franck Perera beats last year’s pole in first free practice

Franck Perera beats last year’s pole in first free practice

The fastest time of the first free practice session at the Misano World Circuit went to the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Franck Perera. The French driver clocked a 1’32.927 on the Italian circuit, beating last year’s pole position time by over two tenths of a second.

Extremely sunny conditions for the first free practice session of the 2017 Blancpain GT Series season, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. As usual the first forty minutes of the first free practice session were reserved to the Silver and Bronze drivers, with Dries Vanthoor topping the time sheets in the #5 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8 LMS in 1’34.044.

Once all drivers took to the track the times dropped quickly, with Mirko Bortolotti and reigning Blancpain GT Series champions Dominik Baumann and Maxi Buhk at the sharp end of the time sheets. Eventually it was Buhk’s team-mate Franck Perera who was fastest in this first session. The Frenchman, switching from Audi to Mercedes-AMG over the winter, turned to be nearly three tenths quicker than Marco Mapelli (#66 Attempto Racing Lamborghini) and Nick Leventis (#42 Strakka Racing McLaren).

The latter was also the quickest of the Silver Cup drivers, with Blancpain GT Series rookie Jules Gounon (#87 AKKA-ASP Mercedes-AMG) quickest in Pro-Am. The second free practice session in Misano starts at 7.30 PM local time.