Fong Tops Incident-Filled GT Practice at St. Pete

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Adderly Fong led the way for Absolute Racing and Bentley in an incident-filled opening practice session for this weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge season opener on the streets of St. Pete.

Fong took his No. 88 Bentley Continental GT3 to a best lap of 1:12.571, edging out the No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long by 0.187 seconds.

James Davison’s No. 007 TRG Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 was third, with defending GT champion Alvaro Parente fourth in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3.

PWC debutant Alex Riberas completed the top-five in the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 car, although had an accident in the closing stages of the session, which ended under red.

The one-and-only practice session was halted with less than 15 minutes complete for an accident by Ryan Eversley in the No. 43 RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3, who made contact with the Turn 4 wall.

It required a lengthy cleanup for oil, with the Acura sustaining heavy left-side damage. 

Preston Calvert’s No. 77 Calvert Dynamics Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which crashed in the earlier test session, did not set a time, with the status of the entry for the remainder of the weekend unknown.

Calvert and the No. 11 Precision Driving Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo of Marko Radisic are the only cars entered in the GT Cup class this weekend.

Alec Udell, meanwhile, led the way in GTA, posting a best lap of 1:14.119 in his No. 17 GMG Racing Porsche. 

Next up for GT/GTA/GT Cup is qualifying on Friday at 10:05 a.m. ET.

RESULTS: Practice

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John