Picariello Quickest on Thursday in Macau

Photo: FIA

Alessio Picariello laid down the quickest lap time of the day following a mixed condition Thursday in Free Practice 2 for the FIA GT World Cup in Macau.

The Belgian took his No. 911 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R to a best lap of 2:21.329 prior to the return of light rain showers that dampened the 3.308-mile Guia Circuit and led to several incidents.

Picariello was 0.304 seconds quicker than the sister Absolute Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor, with Daniel Serra third quickest in the No. 51 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

Raffaele Marciello and Augusto Farfus completed the top-five for the BMW M4 GT3s from Toro Racing powered by MCG and Team KRC, respectively.

Luca Engstler was the first GT3 driver to find the barriers this weekend in his No. 8 GRT-run Lamborghini, although the first red flag came out for an accident by Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

Van der Linde’s BMW needed to be craned off the track after slamming into the wall and sustaining left-side damage.

While action resumed with 20 minutes to go after a clock stoppage, Adderly Fong damaged the front of his No. 10 Uno Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II after contact and a spin, but did not result in another red flag stoppage.

Several cars improved their times in the closing moments, including Maro Engel, who moved to seventh in his No. 130 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, behind Laurin Heinrich’s No. 88 Schumacher CLRT Porsche in sixth.

Qualifying, which will set the grid for the 12-lap Qualifying Race, gets underway Friday at 2:05 p.m. local time (1:05 a.m. EDT) with live coverage on FIA’s YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Free Practice 2

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