RESULT: FP1
Mercedes-AMG topped both the GT3 and GT4 classes in Blancpain GT Series Asia’s first practice session at Sepang this morning courtesy of GruppeM Racing’s Raffeale Marciello and iRace.Win’s Giles Vannelet.
Marciello was comfortably underneath his existing lap record en route to a best of 2m02.910s, which was 0.976s quicker than FFF Racing Team by ACM’s Marco Mapelli. Patric Niederhauser and Nico Bastian made it two GruppeM Mercedes-AMGs inside the top-three a tenth further back, while FFF’s second Lamborghini Huracan completed the symmetrical look to rows one and two.
Audi headed up row three, with Absolute Racing’s #7 R8 LMS GT3 driven by Adderly Fong finishing fifth and just 0.024s clear of HubAuto Corsa’s #27 Ferrari. Local hero Alex Yoong was next up, albeit just 0.007s further back, while Absolute’s #3 Audi completed the top-eight.
In GT4, Gilles Vannelet gave iRace.Win something to celebrate early on their series debut by comfortably topping the class. The Frenchman’s 2m17.845s was 0.733s faster than fellow debutants BMW Team Studie, whose #81 M4 finished second.
GruppeM’s GT4-spec Mercedes-AMG completed the top-three ahead of Clearwater Racing’s McLaren 570S and reigning champions Craft-Bamboo Racing (Porsche).
Friday’s second 45-minute practice session begins at 16:00 local time.