The teams and drivers of the final round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series got their first taste of the Baku street circuit during the first free practice session, which proved to be very instructive. With the track improving continuously, it was a given that the final laps would produce the quickest lap times.
Eventually it was Alex Zanardi in the #33 ROAL Motorsport BMW who set the quickest lap time, lapping the 3.8 km circuit in 1’32.098. The Italian, who was among the frontrunners for most of the session, beat title contender Hari Proczyk in the #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini by 0.237 of a second. An earlier lap of Laurens Vanthoor in the #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi proved to be enough to claim third on the time sheets.
Silver Cup standings leader Mateusz Lisowski was quickest in his class, while Marko Asmer set the fastest time among the drivers of the Pro-Am Trophy.
Apart from several cars taking to the escape road at Turn 7, there was only one major incident during this first session, when Chris Van Der Drift in the #16 Boutsen Ginion McLaren hit the tyre barrier at Turn 8. The driver was able to continue however, with only slight damage to the left front of his machine.