Fuoco Leads Riberas in Spa FP1

Phtoo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI

Antonio Fuoco led Alex Riberas in the opening Free Practice for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

The Italian in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P reeled off a chart-topping 2:02.955 lap time early in the 90-minute session, which was initially declared wet but began on a slightly damp track.

Fuoco’s time was 0.564 seconds clear of the No. 009 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie of Alex Riberas, who set a 2:03.519 in the V12-powered beast halfway through the running.

Fred Makowiecki was third quickest in the No. 36 Alpine A424, followed by Robert Kubica in the satellite No. 83 Ferrari and the sister No. 35 Alpine, which completed the top-five.

The pair of Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s were sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by the No. 007 Aston Martin in eighth and quickest of the Peugeot 9X8s in ninth.

The No. 51 Ferrari completed the top-ten.

LMGT3 was led by the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Charlie Eastwood, whose time also came early in the session.

The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Alessio Rovera was second in class, followed by the No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

The session ended one minute early following an issue for the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Yasser Shahin, who had an incident in the exit of Turn 13.

Besides that, there was a brief Full Course Yellow period to remove gravel off the track at the 35-minute mark, but no other significant incidents reported.

Free Practice 2 is scheduled for a 3:40 p.m. CEST (9:40 a.m. EST) start time.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

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