Peroni Tops Opening Practice at Imola

Alexander Peroni led the way for Algarve Pro Racing in the opening practice session for the 4 Hours of Imola.

Peroni reeled off a lap of 1:32.845 behind the wheel of the No. 45 Oreca 07 Gibson.

In doing so, the Australian driver led a Pro-Am 1-2 at the Italian venue, as he ended the session 0.184 seconds clear of Mathias Beche.

Beche posted a 1:33.029 driving the N0. 31 Oreca, himself 0.009 seconds ahead of Paul Ricard race winner Louis Deletraz.

United Autosports’ No. 22 Oreca of Phil Hanson was fourth, with Cool Racing rounding out the top five ahead of the No. 88 AF Corse Oreca of Alessio Rovera.

Ugo de Wilde was sixth for Muelner Motorsport, with Panis Racing’s Job van Uitert completing the top ten ahead of Nielsen Racing and Duqueine Engineering.

In LMP3, Cool Racing led the way with Malthe Jakobsen fastest.

The young Dane posted a best lap of 1:38:666 behind the wheel of the No. 17 Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Glenn van Berlo was second in the No. 10 Eurointernational Ligier, with the Dutchman’s 1:38.744 improving on an earlier effort from co-driver Xavier Lloveras.

Glenn’s brother Kay van Berlo was third in the No. 3 United Autosports Ligier, ahead of Inter Europol Competition’s Mateusz Kaprzyk.

Cool Racing’s second Ligier rounded out the top five, followed by the second United Ligier of Bailey Voisin,

360 Racing and Eurointernational’s second car completed the top eight, driven by Kaiser Ross and Max Koebolt respectively.

Alessio Picariello posted an early best lap in GTE to top the session, ahead of a returning Michelle Gatting. 

The Belgian set a 1:41.801 behind the wheel of the No. 18 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19.

Gatting, back behind the wheel of the No. 83 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo after missing the Spa WEC round, was 0.269 seconds down on Picariello.

Jonathan Adam was third in the No. 95 Oman Racing by TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR, with the top five completed by Kessel Racing’s Mikkel Jensen and the second TF Sport-ran Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen.

The second free practice session takes place at 9:30 a.m. local time.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1