Raffaele Marciello put the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG on top in this afternoon's a delayed Free Practice at Valencia.
Originally scheduled for a 11:20 start, the 80-minute session eventually got going at 12:05 due to heavy rainfall earlier in the day. By the time the cars hit the track the rain had long since stopped and the sun was beginning to emerge, ensuring that times fell consistently.
Marciello went purple in all three sectors on his way to a best time of 1m31.359s. This was very nearly a second faster than Mattia Drudi (#40 Tresor Orange1 Audi), with Konsta Lappalainen (#14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari) and Dean MacDonald (#111 JP Motorsport McLaren) completing a varied top-four.
The fifth-placed #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi led the Silver Cup order thanks to Lorenzo Patrese. The Italian youngster was immediately followed by Henrique Chaves, who paced the Bronze Cup at the wheel of the #188 Garage 59 McLaren.
Niklas Krütten headed the Gold Cup order in the #30 Team WRT BMW. The German led overall during the second half of the session, but the rate of change at the top was such that he was shuffled back to 19th overall.
Cars will be back on-track at 16:35 for Pre-Qualifying. There are identical schedules for Saturday and Sunday, with Qualifying at 09:00 and the Race at 14:00 on both days. Live streaming from Valencia will kick off on Saturday morning and continue for the remainder of the weekend.
