Picariello Keeps Porsche On Top in Second Macau Practice

Porsche and Absolute Racing maintained their grip on the top of the timesheets in second practice for this weekend’s FIA GT World Cup in Macau, as Alessio Picariello eclipsed Raffaele Marciello to end Thursday’s running with the fastest time.

After Laurens Vanthoor topped FP1 earlier in the day, it was Picariello’s turn to lead the way in the 30-minute session that rounded off the opening day of track action, the Belgian setting a new benchmark of 2:15.966 in the No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

That was just under half a second faster than the time Vanthoor managed in the sister No. 992 Porsche in FP1 before his session-ending crash that would also force him to miss FP2 as Absolute set about repairing the damaged car.

ROWE Racing BMW driver Marciello was the only other driver to beat Vanthoor’s FP1 benchmark as he went second on a 2:16.139, 0.173 seconds behind Picariello.

Third was the Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Sheldon van der Linde, just over six tenths slower than Picariello, with two more Porsche drivers, defending DTM champion and Macau rookie Ahyancan Guven and Laurin Heinrich fourth and fifth.

Yifei Ye was best of the Ferrari 296 GT3 contingent in sixth aboard his No. 83 Harmony Racing example, followed by the best of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs, the No. 45 Audi Sport Asia car driven by Christopher Haase.

Ferrari FIA World Endurance Championship star Antonio Fuoco (AF Corse Ferrari), Joel Eriksson (Audi Sport Asia) and Porsche Motorsport Asia-Pacific Selected Driver (Phantom Global Porsche) completed a top ten separated by 1.254 seconds.

After the disruption to FP1 caused by Vanthoor’s crash, the day’s second session featured no red-flag interruptions.

Next up for the FIA GT World Cup is first qualifying on Friday at 3:40 p.m. local time (2:40 a.m. ET), followed by Super Pole for the ten fastest qualifiers in the opening session at 4:30 p.m. (3:30 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Free Practice 2