Misano Sunday Notebook

***Raffaele Marciello posted the quickest time in this morning’s warm up with the No. 90 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Italian, who is making his GT3 debut this weekend, reeled off a 1:32.863 tap time, two-tenths faster than Christopher Mies in the No. 1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS. Only 26 out of the 34 cars on the entry list took part in the 20-minute morning session. Click here to view the results.

***It is still not clear who or what caused the multi-car crash on the first lap of the Qualifying Race (VIDEO). The incident took place at the exit of Turn 6, with poor visibility making it difficult to distinguish the cars. At least seven cars were involved and sustained damage. There has been no stewards decision regarding the incident.

***While AKKA ASP managed to repair the No. 87 and No. 89 Mercedes, other teams were less fortunate. Five cars have been withdrawn from today’s Main Race with chassis damage: the No. 2 WRT Audi, No. 8 M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3, No. 19 GRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3, No. 44 Strakka Racing McLaren 650S GT3 and No. 55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3.

***One of the standout performers in yesterday’s night race was the No. 85 HTP Motorsport Mercedes of Fabian Schiller and Jules Szymkowiak. The duo finished second, but received a 40-second penalty because the stewards deemed that Szymkowiak caused a collision with the No. 59 Strakka Racing McLaren at pit entry. The No. 85 Mercedes will start the Main Race from eleventh on the grid.

***ROWE Racing has been struggling for pace this weekend. The team headed to Misano with positive expectations following a weight reduction and increase in turbo boost pressure for the BMW M6 GT3 in the most recent BoP update. Although Philipp Eng believes the team has found a near perfect setup, the car is lacking top speed and acceleration out of the corners. The Austrian fears the worst for the next race at Monza, the ‘temple of speed’.

***HTP Motorsport is still in the process of finalizing its Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup lineups for Monza. Indy Dontje, Kenneth Heyer and Patrick Assenheimer were already announced on the MANN FILTER-sponsored No. 48 Mercedes and Michael Avenatti and Damien Faulkner will most likely by joined by Mike Skeen in the Pro-Am class. It’s expected that Maxi Buhk, Dominik Baumann, Fabian Schiller, Franck Perera and Jimmy Eriksson will compete in the two remaining cars.

***The pole-sitting No. 66 Attempto Racing Lamborghini of Marco Mapelli suffered a fuel pressure issue last night. Mapelli was leading the race when he dived into the pit lane, right as the race was about the restart following the 20-minute red flag period.

***Be sure to download the official SRO Spotter Guide, including all the new liveries and lineups. Click here to download the Main Race starting grid, just 29 cars are expected to take the start.

***Eurosport TV kicks off its extensive Blancpain GT Series live coverage at Misano this weekend, airing Sunday’s Main Race at 11:30 a.m. BST, 12:30 p.m. CET. Mark Cole and Martin Haven present the British and International Eurosport English commentary, which will include highlights of Saturday’s one-hour qualifying night race on the Rimini circuit before the main race is shown live.