Carrera Cup Italia | Imola: Masters on the siren in free practice

It’s up to Keagan Masters, right at the end of the free practice sessions, to open the fourth round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia underway in Imola with the best time of the day. A high-paced start to the weekend for the official Team Q8 Hi Perform driver, who on the Santerno circuit is playing for the chance to catch up with Larry Ten Voorde in the general standings (the Dutchman is busy in a concurrent race in Germany)

Friday’s “best lap” arrived with the checkered flag already out, with Masters able to “burn” it just like a basket ball burns the retina at the final siren in 1’44″537. The 25-year-old South African driver, however, was not the only one to show his claws in this early contest.

In particular, Marvin Klein and Simone Iaquinta were consistently at the top of the time list. Especially the Frenchman from Target Competition, who ended up second on the day, one tenth away from Masters.

The two-time Italian champion then finished third, 3 tenths behind the leader, but with further improving split times. A profitable Friday, therefore, also for the Prima Ghinzani standard-bearer, who in Imola is looking for a total redemption after a technical problem had ruined his weekend at the start of qualifying in the second round of the season, in June, right on the 4909 meters of the Emilia-Romagna track.

With a time almost a carbon copy of Iaquinta’s, Lirim Zendeli settled in behind the leading trio. The German standard bearer of Ombra Racing is thus also the first in the Rookie standings, in which his teammate Oliver Gray (seventh at 4 tenths) and the rookie of Villorba Corse Nicholas Pujatti (eighth) also shone.

Curiosity: the young British driver and the 16-year-old from Pordenone close the list of protagonists capable of breaking the 1:45 barrier with the exact same time: 1’44″999! Just one thousandth faster than the two rookies, Diego Bertonelli (The Driving Experiences) concluded the session in sixth position with a time of 1’44″998, while Aldo Festante took Dinamic Motorsport’s first 911 GT3 Cup into the top-5, also lapping in the same tenth position.

Friday’s times are therefore already very close, a prelude to a qualifying round that promises to be very close and which will also see among the protagonists the two drivers who completed the top 10 in free practice: Alberto Cerqui (BeDriver), ninth at 8 tenths from Masters, and Benjamin Paque, the Belgian making his first appearance in the Italian single-make championship, tenth at 9 tenths with Target Competition.

Also interesting are the results from the Michelin Cup, where the Ebimotors duo Alberto De Amicis and Paolo Gnemmi took over the operations, lapping at 46 and a half with the reigning champion 97 thousandths faster than the current leader (the other, Francesco Fenici, is instead only second to last with only 13 laps completed due to an inconvenience).

The third best result in the category is by Gianluca Giorgi, 4 tenths behind with the 911 GT3 Cup by BeDriver and followed by Cesare Brusa (Prima Ghinzani), Alex De Giacomi (Tsunami RT) and Stefano Stefanelli (Team Malucelli). That is, all contenders for the title…

At the end of a Friday of work with a view to the weekend (and disturbed only by a couple of full course yellows and a 5 minute red flag to clear the track of gravel), now we look to the “official” commitments, with a very important qualifying scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday) at 10.15, while race 1 is scheduled for the afternoon with the start at 16.25 and live broadcast scheduled on Dazn and live streaming on www.carreracupitalia.it.

The times of free practice