Kessel Quickest on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi

Photo: John Dagys

Kessel Racing led the way in the opening day of official on-track action for the 5th running of the Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Davide Rigon topped the time sheets in Wednesday’s Free Practice 2, with the Ferrari factory driver pedaling his No. 11 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 to a best time of 2:10.037 in the night session.

Rigon’s time came with just moments remaining in the session, bumping the pair of Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s to second and third quickest, respectively, in FP2.

A late improvement by Jonny Adam saw the Oman Racing Team Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 end up fourth on the time sheets.

It came following an accident by Ahmad Al Harthy in the tunnel at pit out, when Al Harthy reported a loss of brakes. No damage was sustained to the car but the incident did bring out a brief red flag.

The American-liveried No. 20 MRS-GT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup continued to pace the Porsche Cup class.

A total of 19 cars turned official lap times in the 1 hour and 15 minute session, although there were a number of other non-registered cars also on track, including the MRS-GT Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and no fewer than three Maserati GranTurismo MCs.

Free Practice 3 gets underway at 11 a.m. local time, followed FP4 and qualifying in the afternoon.

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