The Pre-Qualifying session for the TM Performance 3 Hours of Monza proved to be an entertaining dress rehearsal for Sunday’s qualifying session. Not only were the fastest three cars separated by under a tenth of a second, over half of the field was again within the same second.
Warm and dry conditions for the final 90 minutes of preparation for the TM Performance Monza 3 Hours, the first endurance race of the 2017 Blancpain GT Series. Teams and drivers did not take long to try and simulate Sunday’s qualifying runs, with Fabrizio Crestani in the #27 Orange 1 Team Lazarus Lamborghini topping the timing sheets early on. His lap time was then beaten by Steven Kane at the wheel of the #7 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental, before Davide Rigon set the fastest time of the session with ten minutes to go. The #72 SMP Racing Ferrari proved to be 0.011 of a second quicker than Kane’s Bentley. 0.02 further behind Alessandro Pier Guidi completed the top-3, driving the beautiful #50 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3.
Plenty of Pro-Am cars at the front as well, with Christopher Haase and the #26 Sainteloc Racing Audi as the fastest of them, comfortably driving within the top-10 overall as well. Haase turned out to be one tenth of a second quicker than Jonny Adam in the #97 Oman Racing Team with TF Sport Aston Martin, with the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari in third in the Pro-Am Cup. More joy for Ferrari in Am Cup, where the #888 Kessel Racing 488 beat the #488 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari.
With six different manufacturers and an impressive 28 cars within the same second, the first endurance race of the season promises to be very exciting. Qualifying for the TM Performance 3 Hours of Monza starts at 9.50 CEST on Sunday morning, with the race getting underway at 14.45. With two races for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Formula Renault Eurocup in the support program and an excellent weather forecast, there is no reason not to visit the mythical Italian Temple of Speed on Sunday. See you there!