Masson Continues to Lead the Way in Second Imola Practice

Esteban Masson continued to set the pace in second practice for this weekend’s Imola round of the European Le Mans Series in a session that came to an early end.

The reigning champion clocked a 1:31.991 in the opening minutes of the 90-minute FP2 session to again lead the way in the No. 19 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca 07 Gibson, although his time was four tenths of a second slower than he managed during Friday’s FP1.

The session was stopped four minutes early after Rene Binder in the No. 88 Proton Competition Oreca and the No. 68 M Racing Ligier JS P325 Toyota LMP3 machine of Nick Adcock tangled at Tosa.

There were therefore no late improvements and so Masson finished up just 0.005 seconds faster than Ian Aguilera aboard the No. 37 CLX Motorsport Oreca, who set a quick time with his opening push lap of the session.

Third fastest was Gregoire Saucy aboard the No. 22 United Autosports entry that heads the standings after winning last time out at Paul Ricard.

Saucy posted a 1:32.155 to end up two tenths faster than Job van Uitert in the No. 28 IDEC Sport machine.

Fifth quickest was Sami Meguetounif aboard the No. 14 TDS Racing Oreca, with his 1:32.461 time good enough to head the Pro-Am entries.

The majority of the quick times were set in the opening minutes and there were two brief full-course yellow interruptions prior to the late red flag.

Both of these involved incidents at Acque Minerali, the first was caused by Doriane Pin going off after 30 minutes of the session aboard the No. 30 Duqueine Team entry, while later on Custodio Toledo was also in strife there at the wheel of the No. 5o AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

There was better news for Duqueine in LMP3 as the sole D09 Toyota in the field topped the class standings, thanks to a 1:39.800 from Pierre-Alexandre Provost.

He was just under two tenths faster than series debutant Louis Iglesias at the wheel of the No. 17 CLX Ligier.

They enjoyed a considerable advantage over the rest of the field, with third quickest — the No. 4 DKR Engineering Ligier of Wyatt Brichacek — only managing a 1:40.506.

It was again the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that set the pace in the LMGT3 division, with Valentin Hasse-Clot going almost a second quicker than teammate Marius Fossard managed when topping the FP1 leaderboard.

Hasse-Clot posted a 1:41.688 to end up eight tenths clear of the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Charlie Eastwood.

Lorcan Hanafin improved just before the red flag to go third fastest aboard the No. 86 GR Racing Ferrari with a 1:42.720 that was just 0.023 seconds faster than the similar No. 57 Kessel machine of Mathys Jaubert.

Wayne Boyd was fifth in the No. 23 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo with a 1:42.851, while Harry King ensured there were five different manufacturers represented in the top-six places after he posted a 1:42.885 in the No. 77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.

Attention now turns to qualifying, which is due to get under way at 2:55 p.m. CEST (8:55 a.m. EST), with the LMGT3 machines heading out on track first.

RESULTS: Free Practice 2