Kessel Ferrari Quickest in Opening Abu Dhabi Practice

Kessel Racing led the way in the opening Free Practice Session for the Gulf 12 Hours, which saw none of the five Pro entries feature in the top five.

Scott Andrews steered the No. 11 Ferrari 296 GT3 to a best lap of 1:52.302, 0.255 seconds quicker than the No. 7 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R in the hands of Alfred Renauer.

The Kessel Ferrari led the Pro-Am ranks in the process with Renauer quickest in Am ahead of the No. 88 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo driven by Marvin Kirchhoefer, which placed third.

The second Herberth Porsche piloted by Matteo Cairoli and the No. 25 AF Corse Ferrari rounded out the top five, just clear of the No. 21 Car Collection Porsche with Joel Sturm at the wheel.

The quickest Pro entry in the opening, 60-minute session slotted into seventh in the form of the No. 77 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo piloted by Frank Bird.

The three Pro Mercedes-AMG cars were split in the bottom parts of the top ten by Grove Racing’s No. 4 Porsche, with the No. 14 Mercedes-AMG Team 2 Seas and No. 99 GruppeM cars in ninth and tenth driven by Maximilian Goetz and Luca Stolz.

The No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 of Nick Yelloly picked up 11th place as the quickest Team WRT entry, with the sister No. 32 machine driven by Philipp Eng in 13th behind the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

The session ran largely uninterrupted with the exception of a pair of full course yellows, most notably for debris on track at Turn 11.

Two cars went absent from the session: a pair of Ferraris from Kessel and Baron Motorsport.

Track action at Yas Marina Circuit resumes with the second Free practice session, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Free Practice 1