Raffaele Marciello was the fastest driver in the opening qualifying session for the Total 24 Hours of Spa, setting the pace in his AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3.
He set a best lap time of 2:18.562 early in the 75-minute session, which was cut short with six minutes remaining with Kamui Kobayashi crashing his Good Smile Racing & Team UKYO Mercedes at the top of Eau Rouge.
This prompted a red-flag which immediately brought the session to a close.
Kobayashi escaped serious injury, although the state of the car remains questionable for the race.
Marciello’s session-topping lap time was an improvement of nine tenths over Mirko Bortolotti’s lap that put the No. 63 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 quickest in Pre-Qualifying.
Frederic Vervisch set the second-best time in his No. 2 Audi Sport Team WRT entry, just 0.113 seconds down on the pace.
The Kaspersky Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 was classified third, with Daniel Juncadella’s AKKA ASP Mercedes fourth.
This session’s lap times will be combined with the night qualifying times in order to determine the 20 fastest cars which will progress to Super Pole.
Night qualifying will start at 9:55 p.m. and will run for two hours.
RESULTS: Qualifying 1