Rinicella Sets the Pace in Opening Spa Practice

IDEC Sport driver Valerio Rinicella set the pace in opening practice for this weekend’s 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as the European Le Mans Series resumed following its summer break.

Rinicella clocked a 2:02.110 in the opening minutes of the session to end up almost a second faster than the LMP2 opposition at the wheel of the No. 18 Oreca 07 Gibson.

Reigning champion Esteban Masson was next quickest with a 2:03.042 in the No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis machine as the next gaggle of cars were far more evenly matched.

Masson was two tenths faster than Jake Hughes aboard the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing car, while four other drivers joined the Briton in the 2:03.2s.

Fastest of these was Reshad De Gerus in the No. 34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca to end the session fourth fastest, while top Pro-Am class contender Malthe Jakobsen was fifth in the second of the APR entries.

Rounding out the top-six was Tom Dillmann in the sister Inter Europol car, having registered a 2:03.298.

Just two tenths separated the LMP3 pacesetters with Louis Iglesias continuing his impressive form after winning on his debut last time out at Imola to set the benchmark with a 2:12.788 aboard the No. 17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 Toyota.

Wyatt Brichacek was fractionally slower in the No. 4 DKR Engineering Ligier with a 2:12.956 while Daniel Nogales rounded out the top-three in the No. 8 Team Virage Ligier, albeit over a second adrift of Iglesias’ time.

Like Rinicella, Sergio Sette Camara held the fastest time in the LMGT3 division for virtually the entire session, having posted a 2:17.985 in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the opening moments.

His time was just 0.004 seconds slower than the equivalent FP1 benchmark when the ELMS visited Spa last year, and Sette Camara ended up less than a tenth ahead of the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Davide Rigon.

Third fastest was Parker Thompson, the Canadian BMW regular impressing on his Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo debut to post a 2:18.081 in the Racing Spirit of Leman machine to end up two thousandths behind Rigon.

The No. 75 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo — which sits second in the class points table — was one of the few cars to improve in the final third of the session, with Tom Sargent rising to fourth thanks to a 2:18.292, while Lilou Wadoux in the No. 50 Ferrari completed the top-five.

There was just the one interruption to the session when a six-minute full-course yellow period was required to clear an incident at Les Combes, although six cars were handed five-minute stop-and-hold penalties for repeated track-limits offences — including the No. 86 GR Racing Ferrari being penalized three times.

The FIA Bronze-graded drivers get to tackle a collective test this afternoon, but the whole field will next be in action on Saturday for second practice at 9 a.m. CEST (3 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Free Practice 1