Enna Superstars: Luigi Ferrara keeps Mercedes on top despite crash

With the big horsepower cars dominating thanks to the circuit's long straights, Ferrara did the majority of his running in the first 15 minutes, before a brief rain shower.

It was during that early run that the Roma Racing driver set his fastest time, the 1m44.083s enough to keep him on top until the flag.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing for Ferrara. Having remerged on to the now dry track with 10 minutes left, the Italian had an off, causing a red flag. While Ferrara took no further part in the session, his car is expected to be fixed before this evening's qualifying session.

Francesco Sini ended up second fastest in the Solaris Chevrolet, his best time coming during a series of quick flying laps following the rain shower.

He was the only non-Mercedes driver in the top five, having edged out the Romeo Ferraris Mercedes duo of free practice one pace-setter Raffaele Giammaria and Andrea Larini.

Tonio Liuzzi was fifth fastest, but found himself stranded on track with just four minutes left in the session after damaging his front radiator on a kerb.

Behind the top five, Thomas Biagi kept his solid run in the Dinamic BMW going with the sixth fastest time, ahead of Max Pigoli (Ferlito Jaguar) and the second Dinamic BMW of Max Mugelli.

For the Audi camp it was another tough session.

The MTM RS5 of Thomas Schoffler never made it out after sustaining damage in the first session, and while both Gianni Morbidelli (Audi Sport Italia) and Johan Kristoffersson (KMS) got laps in, they weren't quick.

Morbidelli ended the session in 14th, while Kristoffersson - the series points leader heading into this decider - was 15th, more than six seconds off the pace.

Pos  Driver                Car                 Time        Gap
 1.  Luigi Ferrara         Roma Mercedes       1m44.083s
 2.  Francesco Sini        Solaris Chevrolet   1m44.208s   + 0.125s
 3.  Raffaele Giammaria    Romeo Mercedes      1m45.337s   + 1.254s
 4.  Andrea Larini         Romeo Mercedes      1m46.084s   + 2.001s
 5.  Vitantonio Liuzzi     CAAL Mercedes       1m46.306s   + 2.223s
 6.  Thomas Biagi          Dinamic BMW         1m46.510s   + 2.427s
 7.  Max Pigoli            Ferlito Jaguar      1m46.569s   + 2.486s
 8.  Max Mugelli           Dinamic BMW         1m46.588s   + 2.505s
 9.  Ezio Muccio           Ferlito Jaguar      1m47.702s   + 3.619s
10.  Nico Caldarola        Roma Mercedes       1m47.826s   + 3.743s
11.  Andrea Bacci          CAAL Mercedes       1m47.996s   + 3.913s
12.  Giovanni Berton       Dinamic BMW         1m48.968s   + 4.885s
13.  Christian Fittipaldi  Swiss Maserati      1m49.042s   + 4.959s
14.  Gianni Morbidelli     KMS Audi            1m49.213s   + 5.130s
15.  Johan Kristoffersson  KMS Audi            1m50.249s   + 6.166s
16.  Marco Pollara         Todi BMW            1m57.185s  + 13.102s