Gray Paces Opening Imola Practice

Inter Europol Competition driver Oliver Gray set the pace in the opening European Le Mans Series Free Practice session at Imola.

Gray reeled off a 1:31.236 in the No. 34 Oreca 07 Gibson he shares with Clement Novalak and Luca Ghiotto.

In the process, he outpaced the No. 14 AO by TF machine of Robert Kubica by 0.204 seconds.

Malthe Jakobsen was third-fastest aboard the No. 37 Cool Racing Oreca, with Charles Milesi and Alex Quinn completing the top five for Panis Racing and Algarve Pro Racing respectively.

Frederik Vesti picked up sixth for Cool Racing, returning to the cockpit of the No. 47 Oreca for the first time since he made his GT3 debut with GruppeM Racing at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Reshad de Gerus slotted into seventh aboard the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca as Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Gregoire Saucy rounded out the overall top ten.

Kai Askey set the pace in LMP3 aboard the No. 88 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 Nissan by posting a best lap of 1:39.053.

That was enough to beat the No. 31 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier of Antoine Doquin by 0.057 seconds, while Manuel Espirito Santo was third for Cool Racing.

Kessel Racing’s Daniel Serra led an LMGT3 top three comprising three different brands as he set a 1:42.386 behind the wheel of the No. 57 Ferrari 296 GT3.

Lorcan Hanafin was just o.018 seconds further back in second aboard the No. 97 Grid Motorsport by TF Aston Martin Vantage GT3, while Julien Andlauer took third in the No. 60 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Track action for the 4 Hours of Imola continues with Free Practice 2, Saturday at 10:05 a.m. CEST (4:05 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Free Practice 1