Zanardi Tops First Practice at Baku

Alex Zanardi went quickest in the first Free Practice session of the Blancpain Sprint Series Baku World Challenge.

The No. 33 ROAL Motorsport BMW clocked a 1:32.098 near the end of the session, 0.237s clear of Hari Proczyk’s No. 28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini. The Italian was clearly one of the drivers to use the curbs to their full advantage.

The No. 1 WRT Audi of Cesar Ramos ended the session in third, narrowly edging out the Schütz Motorsport of Marco Holzer by only 0.004s.

Championship leader Maxi Götz posted the sixth fastest time in the No. 84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes (+0.906s), being the last driver to remain within the same second of Zanardi.

The session was interrupted twice; on the first occasion to remove a loose banner and near the end of the 60-minute session to recover the No. 16 Boutsen Ginion McLaren of Chris van der Drift from underneath the tire barriers.

Free Practice 2 gets underway in an hour’s time and will be run in wet conditions.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1