Mercedes-AMG Team Akkodis ASP on top in incident filled opening GT World Challenge session at Imola -results, livestream 02.04.2022: Mercedes-AMG Team Akkodis ASP led an incident filled opening free practice session of 2022 at Imola, which saw the fastest 27 cars covered by less than one second. LIVESTREAM HERE Raffaele Marciello

Mercedes-AMG Team Akkodis ASP led an incident filled opening free practice session of 2022 at Imola, which saw the fastest 27 cars covered by less than one second.




LIVESTREAM HERE



Raffaele Marciello posted a 1m40.298s to edge the #95 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin of Maxime Martin by 0.127s at the top of the timesheets. Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed was third quickest overall courtesy of Luca Stolz, who was 0.134s shy of Marciello.



A trio of Audi runners filled the next three positions: Patric Niederhauser was fourth for Saintéloc Racing, followed by Kelvin van der Linde (#32 Team WRT) and Fred Vervisch (#46 Team WRT). BMW and McLaren were also represented in the top-10 by ROWE Racing (P7) and JP Motorsport (P10).



Attempto Racing led the Silver Cup with its #99 Audi. Alex Aka posted a 1m40.623s to finish eighth overall and within three tenths of the overall pace. This was seven positions clear of the #777 Al Manar by HRT Mercedes-AMG, while the #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi was a further place back.



Winward Racing topped the new Gold Cup class with its #57 Mercedes-AMG thanks to Lucas Auer, whose 1m40.713s was good enough for 12th overall. Beechdean AMR's strong overall showing was complemented by its #97 Aston Martin taking second among the Gold runners in 13th overall. In Pro-Am, AF Corse emerged on top thanks to a 1m41.353s lap from Andrea Bertolini that placed the #52 Ferrari in P30 overall.



With a 52-car field this weekend, finding space for a clean lap was difficult. This was compounded by no fewer than nine full-course yellow periods to replace a bollard that was repeatedly knocked out of place the Variante Alta chicane.



There were further incidents for the #3 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG, which spun at Acque Minerali, and late contact that involved the #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche, the #159 Garage 59 McLaren and the #33 Team WRT Audi. The latter was also involved in contact on pit lane with the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team Akkodis ASP car.



The session also saw Valentino Rossi make his first appearance in a competitive session since switching to GT racing. The Italian took over from Vervisch at the wheel of the #46 Team WRT Audi and lapped within two seconds of the Belgian.



Cars will be back on-track for another 90 minutes of running when pre-qualifying gets underway this afternoon at 14:05. Live streaming can be found across the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS website and social media channels with English, French, German and Italian commentary options available.




2022 Results
Free practice / Imola / 2022 Results



1     88     Pro Cup     Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon     Mercedes AMG AKKODIS ASP Team     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:40.298        


2     95     Pro Cup     Maxime Martin, Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim     Beechdean AMR     Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3     1:40.425         0.127


3     2     Pro Cup     Maro Engel, Steijn Schothorst, Luca Stolz     Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:40.432         0.134


4     25     Pro Cup     Lucas Legeret, Patric Niederhauser, Christopher Mies     Sainteloc Junior Team     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:40.445         0.147


5     32     Pro Cup     Dries Vanthoor, Kelvin van der Linde, Charles Weerts     Team WRT     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:40.484         0.186


6     46     Pro Cup     Frederic Vervisch, Nico Müller, Valentino Rossi     Team WRT     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:40.586         0.288


7     50     Pro Cup     Neil Verhagen, Max Hesse, Daniel Harper     Rowe Racing     BMW M4 GT3     1:40.604         0.306


8     99     Silver Cup     Marius Zug, Nicolas Schöll, Alex Aka     Attempto Racing     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:40.623         0.325


9     12     Pro Cup     Christopher Haase, Mattia Drudi, Luca Ghiotto     Tresor by Car Collection     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:40.674         0.376


10     111     Pro Cup     Christian Klien, Vincent Abril, Dennis Lind     JP Motorsport     McLaren 720S GT3     1:40.683         0.385


11     71     Pro Cup     Davide Rigon, Daniel Serra, Antonio Fuoco     Iron Lynx     Ferrari 488 GT3     1:40.707         0.409


12     57     Gold Cup     Jens Liebhauser, Lorenzo Ferrari, Lucas Auer     Winward Racing     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:40.713         0.415


13     97     Gold Cup     Valentin Hasse Clot, Theo Nouet, Andrew Howard     Beechdean AMR     Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3     1:40.827         0.529


14     38     Pro Cup     Rob Bell, Oliver Wilkinson, Marvin Kirchhöfer     Jota     McLaren 720S GT3     1:40.863         0.565


15     777     Silver Cup     Fabian Schiller, Al Faisal Al Zubair, Axcil Jeffries     Al Manar Racing by HRT     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:40.937         0.639


16     26     Silver Cup     Cesar Gazeau, Nicolas Baert, Aurelien Panis     Sainteloc Junior Team     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:40.948         0.650


17     87     Silver Cup     Tommaso Mosca, Konstantin Tereschenko, Casper Stevenson     AKKODIS ASP Team     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:40.986         0.688


18     22     Silver Cup     Patrik Matthiesen, Dominik Fischli, Joel Sturm     Allied Racing     Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)     1:41.009         0.711


19     63     Pro Cup     Jack Aitken, Albert Costa, Mirko Bortolotti     Emil Frey Racing     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:41.061         0.763


20     30     Silver Cup     Thomas Neubauer, Benjamin Goethe, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer     Team WRT     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:41.081         0.783


21     51     Pro Cup     Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, James Calado     Iron Lynx     Ferrari 488 GT3     1:41.091         0.793


22     5     Gold Cup     Hubert Haupt, Florian Scholze, Arjun Maini     Haupt Racing Team     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:41.128         0.830


23     19     Pro Cup     Arthur Rougier, Leo Roussel, Giacomo Altoe     Emil Frey Racing     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:41.160         0.862


24     11     Silver Cup     Lorenzo Patrese, Hugo Valente, Axel Blom     Tresor by Car Collection     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:41.184         0.886


25     10     Gold Cup     Adam Eteki, Karim Ojjeh, Benjamin Lessennes     Boutsen Racing     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:41.223         0.925


26     78     Gold Cup     Ben Barker, Alex Malykhin, James Dorlin     Barwell Motorsport     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:41.232         0.934


27     159     Silver Cup     Ethan Siminoni, Vargas Manuel Maldonado, Nicolai Kjaergaard     Garage 59     McLaren 720S GT3     1:41.277         0.979


28     911     Gold Cup     Ralf Bohn, Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer     Herberth Motorsport     Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)     1:41.342         1.044


29     98     Pro Cup     Augusto Farfus, Nick Yelloly, Nicky Catsburg     Rowe Racing     BMW M4 GT3     1:41.345         1.047


30     52     Pro-AM Cup     Stefano Costantini, Louis Machiels, Andrea Bertolini     AF Corse     Ferrari 488 GT3     1:41.353         1.055


31     563     Silver Cup     Michele Beretta, Yuki Nemoto, Benja Hites     VSR     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:41.400         1.102


32     54     Pro Cup     Klaus Bachler, Come Ledogar, Matteo Cairoli     Dinamic Motorsport     Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)     1:41.465         1.167


33     93     Gold Cup     Jonathan Hui, Chris Froggatt, Edward Cheever     SKY - Tempesta Racing     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:41.474         1.176


34     66     Pro Cup     Juuso Puhakka, Markus Winkelhock, Dennis Marschall     Attempto Racing     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:41.552         1.254


35     21     Gold Cup     Hugo Delacour, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, Alessandro Balzan     AF Corse     Ferrari 488 GT3     1:41.576         1.278


36     20     Pro-AM Cup     Dominik Baumann, Valentin Pierburg, Ian Loggie     SPS automotive performance     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:41.644         1.346


37     83     Gold Cup     Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting     Iron Dames     Ferrari 488 GT3     1:41.664         1.366


38     14     Silver Cup     Stuart White, Tuomas Tujula, Konsta Lappalainen     Emil Frey Racing     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:41.729         1.431


39     31     Silver Cup     Finlay Hutchison, Diego Menchaca, Louis Proctor     Team WRT     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:41.808         1.510


40     56     Silver Cup     Giorgio Roda, Mauro Calamia, Marius Nakken     Dinamic Motorsport     Porsche 911 GT3-R (991.II)     1:41.819         1.521


41     90     Silver Cup     Ezequiel Perez Companc, Sean Walkinshaw, Dusan Borkovic     Madpanda Motorsport     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:41.846         1.548


42     112     Silver Cup     Patryk Krupinski, Maciej Blazek, Christopher Brück     JP Motorsport     McLaren 720S GT3     1:41.871         1.573


43     188     Pro-AM Cup     Henrique Chaves, Miguel Ramos, Alexander West     Garage 59     McLaren 720S GT3     1:42.011         1.713


44     4     Silver Cup     Jordan Love, Jannes Fittje, Alain Valente     Haupt Racing Team     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:42.221         1.923


45     33     Gold Cup     Ryuichiro Tomita, Arnold Robin, Maxime Robin     Team WRT     Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO2     1:42.345         2.047


46     8     Gold Cup     Mike Parisy, Loris Cabirou, Nicolas Gomar     AGS Events     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:42.359         2.061


47     77     Gold Cup     Sandy Mitchell, Rob Collard, Alex MacDowall     Barwell Motorsport     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:42.578         2.280


48     27     Silver Cup     Dennis Fetzer, Jordan Witt, Brandon Leitch     Leipert Motorsport     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:42.763         2.465


49     107     Pro-AM Cup     Nigel Bailly, Matthieu De Robiano, Stephane Lemeret     CMR     Bentley Continental GT3     1:42.782         2.484


50     163     Silver Cup     Marcus Paverud, Baptiste Moulin, Michael Dörrbecker     VSR     Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo     1:42.863         2.565


51     3     Silver Cup     Jeff Kingsley, Valdemar Eriksen, Sebastien Baud     GetSpeed     Mercedes-AMG GT3     1:43.349         3.051


52     7     Gold Cup     Oliver Millroy, Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff     Inception Racing     McLaren 720S GT3     1:48.269         7.971





Saturday 2 April
14:05 - 15:35: Pre-Qualifying
18:20 - 19:20: Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series Race

Sunday 3 April
09:00 - 10:00: Qualifying
15:00 - 18:00: Race



SRO Motorsports Group, SRO / Dirk Bogaerts Photography