Rigon Puts SMP on Top in Free Practice at Paul Ricard

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Davide Rigon has topped Friday afternoon’s 90-minute Free Practice session for SMP Racing ahead of this weekend’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Paul Ricard 1000km.

He set a lap time of 1:58.442 midway through the running, putting the No. 72 AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GT3 on top of the timesheets.

Times consistently improved throughout the first part of the session, falling by almost one second in the first half-hour.

Bronze-rated driver David Perel set the second-best time in the Am Cup Kessel Racing Ferrari, missing out on the top spot by 0.264 seconds.

The South African driver set the fastest time in the morning’s Bronze Test but managed to improve by over six-tenths in Free Practice.

The No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon entry completed the top three, followed by the No. 14 Emil Frey Jaguar G3 and No. 8 Bentley Continental GT3.

The top five cars were the only ones to set times under the 1:59 barrier.

It was a clean session throughout, with no major incidents interrupting the running.

Several manufacturers were absent from the top positions. Oranga 1 Team Lazarus was the fastest Lamborghini team in eighth, despite an early provisional fastest lap from Mirko Bortolotti.

The top McLaren 650S GT3 was 16th, followed by the Pro-Am Cup Sainteloc Racing car as the best-placed Audi R8 LMS in 17th.

Pre-Qualifying is scheduled for 4:25 p.m., and will again last 90 minutes, while Qualifying will take place on Saturday morning.

RESULTS: Free Practice

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.