With the sun breaking through the morning mist, the second free practice for the opening round of the Blancpain Sprint Series got underway at the French circuit of Nogaro. It didn’t take Markus Winkelhock long to become the first driver to break the 1:26 barrier, driving the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi. He was quickly followed by a couple of his Audi colleagues, with Laurens Vanthoor beating the German’s time.
But then Jeroen Bleekemolen pipped the Phoenix and Belgian Audi Club Team WRT drivers to the top position, clocking a 1:25.663 lap at the wheel of his #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini. The Dutchman stayed on top of the timing sheets for the remainder of the session, followed by Vanthoor and René Rast, who, at the wheel of the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi, went marginally quicker than Winkelhock. Nelson Piquet jr. improved on his 13th fastest time from Free Practice 1 to set the fastest BMW time, less than four tenths off Bleekemolen’s time.
Mateusz Lisowski was again the fastest of the Silver Cup drivers, the Polish driver of the #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi just managing to stay inside the top-10 overall. He was two places behind Peter Kox in the #24 Blancpain Racing Lamborghini, quickest of the Pro-Am drivers.
Qualifying practice for the opening round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series starts at 15.15 CET.