Milesi Leads Wet Free Practice 1 in Monza

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Charles Milesi put the No. 35 Alpine A424 atop the time sheets in a rain-soaked opening Free Practice for this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship season-ending 6 Hours of Monza.

The Frenchman reeled off a chart-topping 1:45.862 late in the 90-minute session that saw a flurry of improvements as the track began to show signs of drying out.

Milesi ended up 0.401 seconds quicker than the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Yifei Ye. Ye’s co-driver Phil Hanson had been atop the time sheets with an initial benchmark 1:47.738 for the majority of the session.

Harry Tincknell ended up third in the No. 007 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie, followed by Alpine driver Victor Martins and the No. 51 Ferrari of James Calado, who completed the top-five.

Mathys Jaubert put the No. 17 Genesis GMR-001 sixth in the session, followed by Theo Pourchaire, in his final race with Peugeot.

The No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari was eighth, having rebounded from an off-course excursion by Antonio Fuoco in the opening moments of the session that brought out the first of three red flags.

Fuoco managed to bring the car back to the pit lane under its own power and spent minimal time in the garage.

An off by Robin Frijns in the No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 at at the exit of Ascari led to the second session stoppage with 35 minutes to go.

A third and final red came out ten minutes later for the No. 91 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of James Cottingham, who had an incident at Lesmo 2 after contact with the No. 19 Genesis of Mathieu Jaminet, which was placed under investigation.

The leaderboard changed hands in the closing stages of the session in LMGT3 as well, with Tom Fleming setting a 1:57.575 lap in the No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo to lead the way.

It was 0.330 seconds quicker than the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Giammarco Leverato, with Jonny Edgar slotting in third in the points-leading No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Edgar’s nearest championship contender, No. 92 Manthey Porsche, sat in the garage for the majority of the session with a drivetrain  issue, although Richard Lietz, who is making his 100th WEC start this weekend, managed to complete two flying laps in the final moments.

FP2 is scheduled to get underway at 2:30 p.m. CET (8:30 a.m. ET), with cold and wet conditions expected to remain throughout the day.

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