Enna Superstars: Raffaele Giammaria tops first practice
Raffaele Giammaria topped the first practice session for the International Superstars Series at the Pergusa circuit in Enna, Sicily
A regular in the GT Sprint Series, Giammaria was drafted in to the Romeo Ferraris Mercedes team as a late replacement for Camillo Zurcher. And he wasted no time getting up to speed, jumping to the top of the times midway through the 45-minute session and ultimately gapping the rest of the field by almost half a second.
Both Max Pigoli (Ferlito Jaguar) and Tonio Liuzzi (CAAL Racing Mercedes) left their runs much later, Pigoli jumping to second and Liuzzi top third after the flag had fallen.
Andrea Larini made sure there were two Romeo Ferraris Mercedes near the front with the fourth fastest time, ahead of Francesco Sini's Solaris Chevrolet.
Max Biagi was sixth fastest in his Dinamic BMW, a surprising result given that the Mercedes and Jaguars are better suited to Pergusa's long straights.
And he wasn't the only Dinamic BMW driver in the top 10, with Max Mugelli setting the eighth fastest time, the pair split by the Roma Racing Mercedes of Domenico Caldarola.
For points leader Johan Kristoffersson, it was a tough session. The KMS Audi driver ended up just 14th, more than four seconds adrift of Giammaria.
Even more surprising was that he was still the fastest of the Audi drivers, with Thomas Schoffler 17th in the MTM entry, and Gianni Morbidelli (Audi Sport Italia) 18th and last after he hit a kerb too hard and broke his RS5's front-right suspension early in the session.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Raffale Giammaria Romeo Mercedes 1m45.670s 2. Max Pigoli Ferlito Jaguar 1m46.101s + 0.431s 3. Tonio Liuzzi CAAL Mercedes 1m46.333s + 0.663s 4. Andrea Larini Romeo Mercedes 1m46.837s + 1.167s 5. Francesco Sini Solaris Chevrolet 1m47.184s + 1.514s 6. Thomas Biagi Dinamic BMW 1m47.305s + 1.635s 7. Nico Caldarola Roma Mercedes 1m47.549s + 1.879s 8. Max Mugelli Dinamic BMW 1m47.615s + 1.945s 9. Luigi Ferrara Roma Mercedes 1m47.804s + 2.134s 10. Giovanni Berton Dinamic BMW 1m48.068s + 2.398s 11. Simone Iacone Solaris Chevrolet 1m48.213s + 2.543s 12. Ezio Muccio Ferlito Jaguar 1m48.446s + 2.776s 13. Andrea Bacci CAAL Mercedes 1m48.695s + 3.025s 14. Johan Kristoffersson KMS Audi 1m50.167s + 4.497s 15. Christian Fittipaldi Swiss Maserati 1m50.683s + 5.013s 16. Mauro Cesari Swiss Maserati 1m51.809s + 6.139s 17. Thomas Schoffler MTM Audi 1m53.077s + 7.407s 18. Gianni Morbidelli Audi Italia 1m53.656s + 7.986s 19. Marco Pollara Todi BMW 1m58.399s + 12.729s
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| Series | General |
| Author | Andrew van Leeuwen |
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