Conquest Ferrari Quickest in Indy Free Practice

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Conquest Racing led the way in the first official track session for Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS.

The No. 34 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Daniel Mancinelli laid down a 1:22.865 lap time early in the 90-minute dusk-into-night session in preparation for the joint Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli and Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS enduro.

Mancinelli, who is sharing the Prancing Horse with Alessandro Balzan and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli, edged out the Pro-Am class No. 45 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen by 0.107 seconds.

The lone Silver class No. 38 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 wound up third quickest overall on the time charts in the hands of Nick Wittmer, followed by Andrea Caldarelli’s No. 1 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo in fourth.

Triarsi Competizione’s Pro-Am class No. 23 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 completed the fop-five with Alessio Rovera at the wheel, ahead of the No. 6 US RaceTronics Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in sixth.

The No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes, No. 33 Winward Racing Mercedes and No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing with Riley Motorsports Mercedes completed the top-ten, meanwhile.

All 25 cars turned laps, including the replacement No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari following its crash in testing on Wednesday.

No major incidents were reported over the course of the Free Practice session, which was timed to coincide with the final 90 minutes of Saturday’s race and ended in full darkness.

Pre-qualifying is set to get underway Friday at 10:35 a.m. ET followed by qualifying and Pole Shootout in the afternoon to set the grid.

RESULTS: Free Practice

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