Raffaele Marciello led the way in tonight's pre-qualifying session at Magny-Cours with a 1m36.907s lap at the wheel of his #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG.
While the Italian set his time early in the 80-minute run, Jusso Puhakka left it until the final minutes to record his best. A 1m36.989s effort put the Toksport WRT man within 0.082s of the benchmark, while Jim Pla was third in the #87 AKKA ASP entry to ensure a Mercedes-AMG sweep of the top three places.
Puhakka also paced the Silver Cup in the car he shares with Colombia's Oscar Tunjo, while the Pro-Am class was once again led by the #92 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella and Jonathan Hui. The debuting crew was classified 11th overall courtesy of former F1 ace Fisichella.
Another close session saw the top 18 cars covered by less than one second around the 4.4km circuit. Full results can be viewed via the link at the bottom of this page. The #108 CMR Bentley was once again absent following last night's fire, but the car should be able to complete laps tomorrow morning before joining the full field for qualifying at 14:40.
Tonight's session gave competitors an opportunity to run in darkness ahead of tomorrow opening one-hour race, which will get underway at 22:15. There will be more action on Sunday, with qualifying for race two going green at 08.30 and the second contest kicking off at 13:50. As ever, all sessions will be streamed lived.
The GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS action forms part of packed weekend that will see eight different series stage no fewer than 19 races. The GT3 category shares the headline slot with FFSA French GT Championship, while Porsche Carrera Cup France and Formula Renault Eurocup are also among the all-star cast.