> Result: Free Practice 2
Alex Fontana set fastest time of the week so far in final practice ahead of this evening’s Gulf 12 Hours qualifying session at Yas Marina.
The Car Collection Porsche – which is also nominated to score Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli points – dipped below 1m52s for the first time en route to top spot by 0.3s from Kessel’s #11 Ferrari.
However, and for the fourth test/practice session running, all five Pro cars failed to show their true potential which led to a top six comprising Pro-Am and Am entries.
That’s not to say those cars weren’t crewed by fast drivers. Far from it, in fact.
Fontana’s time of 1m51.822s was three tenths quicker than Joel Sturm’s previous benchmark from last night and a similar chunk quicker than David Fumanelli could lap in FP2. Richie Stanaway ensured EBM’s Porsche again featured at the sharp end in third, while AF Corse’s Alessio Rovera, Marvin Kirchhoefer (Garage 59) and Conrad Grunewald rounded out the top-six.
2 Seas were best of the Pro entries in seventh, Fabian Schiller setting a time seven tenths slower than Fontana managed out front.
Tim Heinemann helped Herberth’s Porsche finish eighth, one place ahead of Maro Engel’s GruppeM Mercedes-AMG.
WRT’s BMWs were once again well down the order. #32 finished 10th courtesy of Sheldon van der Linde while the second M4 was only 20th. One suspects that will change once qualifying rolls around at 18:00 local time (14:00 GMT) this evening.