Beretta Fastest on Friday at COTA

Olivier Beretta in the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 posted the fastest lap from Friday’s two 40-minute practice sessions for the Pirelli World Challenge season opening Nissan Grand Prix of Texas at Circuit of the Americas.

Beretta, who will make his first PWC appearance since a one-off race driving for Cadillac in 2004, set a best lap of 2:05.323 in the afternoon session.

Guy Cosmo clocked in second at 2:05.609 in his No. 23 M1 Racing LLC Audi R8 LMS ultra. As the car had a transponder issue, it initially did not register on the best time subsection of timing & scoring.

Mike Skeen was third in the second session in the No. 2 CRP Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra at 2:05.814.

Next up was Kevin Estre in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing with Flying Lizard Motorsports McLaren 650S GT3 at 2:06.049, ahead of the fastest GTA classified driver Ricardo Perez in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 at 2:06.354.

Frankie Montecalvo, who led the morning session in the No. 66 DragonSpeed Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, posted a 2:07.123 lap in the second session, which ranked him 13th.

Colin Thompson led the GT Cup presented by MOMO class for the second consecutive session, with a best time of 2:10.628 in the No. 11 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Bill Ziegler returned to the track in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 following a collision with Dan Knox in the No. 80 Lone Star Racing Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R during the morning practice, while Knox’s car remained in the garage a majority of the session for repairs.

There were no stoppages during the second practice session.

Next on-track session for GT/GTA/GT Cup is qualifying, at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

RESULTS: Practice 2
RESULTS: Combined Practice