Akkodis ASP enjoyed the ideal preparation for this weekend's Fanatec Sprint round at Misano by topping Thursday's pre-event test at the Italian circuit.
Raffaele Marciello ensured that the championship chasing #89 Mercedes-AMG led the way at the conclusion of the four-hour session with a time of 1m31.814s, beating the #30 Team WRT Audi of Thomas Neubauer into second spot by 0.257s. The latter also topped the Silver Cup class by a very comfortable margin.
Though a Mercedes-AMG finished on top this was a very good afternoon for Audi. The Ingolstadt marque represented seven of the overall top-10 and should be a serious contender for victory this weekend. The #32 Team WRT entry, which swept last year's Misano event, placed third in testing thanks to a 1m32.075s from Dries Vanthoor.
Along with the #89 Mercedes-AMG, the sister #88 car placed fifth overall. The only other brand among the overall top-10 was McLaren, which took ninth spot thanks to the #112 JP Motorsport machine. The #52 AF Corse Ferrari was the best of the Pro-Am runners, finishing the test in P11 overall.
The penultimate round of the 2022 Fanatec Sprint championship, this weekend's trip to Misano see Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (#32 Team WRT Audi) leading Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy (#89 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG) by just half a point. Jim Pla (#88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG) sits third but with the Frenchman 25.5 points off the top this appears to be a two-horse title race.
The Silver Cup title could be decided this weekend with AF Corse duo Ulysse de Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean holding a commanding advantage at the top of the standings. There's still everything to play for in Pro-Am, however, after Cedric Sbirrazzuoli edged into a narrow lead last time out at Zandvoort.
There are two new additions to the grid this weekend, both of which took part in today's test session. The #663 Imperiale Racing Lamborghini placed 12th overall, while the similar #888 entry from LP Racing was 25th.
There are also several driver changes: Lorenzo Patrese has received a late call-up to replace Luca Ghiotto in the #12 Audi; Daan Pijl joins fellow countryman Danny Kroes in the #18 Lamborghini; Hugo Delacour is back in the #21 Ferrari; Lucas Legeret subs for Gilles Magnus in the #26 Audi; and Norbert Siedler deputises for Christian Klien in the #111 McLaren.
Friday will see competitors undertake more preparation work in free practice and pre-qualifying. The opening qualifying session takes place on Saturday morning and is followed by race 1 in the afternoon, while this format is repeated on Sunday. From Saturday onwards, every second of the action will be broadcast live on a variety of online platforms, including the GT World YouTube channel, in English, German, French and Italian.
TIMETABLE
FRIDAY 1 JULY
Free Practice - 09:00
Pre-Qualifying - 14:50
SATURDAY 2 JULY
Qualifying 1 - 09:30
Race 1 - 15:00
SUNDAY 3 JULY
Qualifying 2 - 09:00
Race 2 - 14:45