> Result: FP2
Mitch Gilbert claimed the fastest time of the day in second practice at Shanghai International Circuit earlier today ahead of tomorrow’s all-important Blancpain GT Series Asia qualifying session and first 60-minute race of the weekend.
Earl Bamber and Alessio Picariello made the early running before the OD Racing driver stamped his authority on the session by unleashing a 2m06.500s. That was sufficient to see off FP1 pace-setter Martin Rump who improved to finish just 0.067s behind the leading Audi’s time.
J-Fly by Absolute Racing’s Picariello finished only 0.096s behind the KCMG by Champion Racing R8 LMS GT3 but two tenths clear of Franky Cheng who made it four different Audis at the top of the times. Nick Foster broke Ingolstadt’s stranglehold by finishing fifth aboard Craft-Bamboo Racing’s #88 Porsche, while another 991 GT3R - this time Bamber’s Arrows Racing example - completed the top-six 0.7s shy of Gilbert.
Marchy Lee and Shaun Thong were once again seventh ahead of Craft-Bamboo’s second Porsche driven by Marvin Dienst and Darryl O’Young, while newcomers Bentley Team Absolute cracked the top-10 for the first time today courtesy of Adderly Fong.
Several crews failed to show their hands in FP2, including championship leader Hunter Abbott who was only 15th overall after Pro co-driver Maxi Buhk set the second fastest time in the earlier session.
Elsewhere, David Tjiptobiantoro and Greg Teo Bee Tat’s T2 Motorsports Ferrari was fastest of the Am Cup runners after out-pacing FP1’s leaders Lin Yue and Zhu Yunhan (FFF Racing Team by ACM) by two tenths.
In GT4, EKS Motorsports edged clear of the chasing pack thanks to Eric Lo whose early best of 2m21.872s remained quickest thereafter as well as 0.007s faster than FP1’s benchmark. HubAuto Racing were 0.293s back in second thanks to Ringo Chong’s late effort, while Craft-Bamboo had to settle for third after topping the earlier session.
The weekend’s third and final practice session begins at 09:10 tomorrow before qualifying takes place at 12:35. Race 1 then rounds out the day at 16:15 local time.
Follow the qualifying and races live on Blancpain GT Series Asia’s website and Facebook page, as well as SRO’s GT World Youtube channel. Chinese fans can also watch tomorrow’s race live with Chinese commentary via a variety of streaming services, including Douyu, Toutiao, Iqiyi, Beijing Time, Octopus TV, Quanmin TV, Zaker, Huajiao and Hi Sports.