SMP Ferrari Quickest in Pre Qualifying at Monza

The SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Davide Rigon posted the quickest time in Pre Qualifying for Sunday’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup opener at Monza.

Rigon, who share the No. 72 Ferrari with Miguel Molina and Victor Shaytar, reeled off a 1:48.381 lap time towards the end of the 90-minute session, which was still half a second slower than the fastest time posted by the ISR Audi R8 LMS in this morning’s Free Practice session.

Steven Kane’s 1:48.392 lap held the top spot for most of the time, but the No. 7 Bentley Continental GT3 had to settle for second in the end (+0.011s).

The No. 50 AF Corse 488 GT3 of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Michele Rugolo and Pasin Lathouras made it two Ferraris in the top three (+0.0.20s), and was followed by the No. 5 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 in fourth again. 

The Orange 1 Team Lazarus entry was the first of the Lamborghini Huracán GT3s in fifth (+0.160s), followed by the No. 114 Emil Frey Jaguar G3 in P6.

Both Mercedes-AMG and McLaren kept a low profile in the warmer afternoon session, especially the latter, as Strakka Racing had to settle for P20 with the No. 58 McLaren 650S GT3 (+0.741s).

Strakka’s No. 42 entry did not return to action following this morning’s crash.

The top 28 — more than half the field — was split by less than one second.

There were no red flags, nor any notable incidents during the session.

Qualifying gets underway at 9.50 a.m. local time tomorrow morning.

RESULTS: Pre Qualifying