Mixed conditions greeted competitors for the free practice session ahead of the 2016 Total 24 Hours of Spa. Starting out with a wet track drivers took it easy at the start of the session, moving in to the second half of the 90-minute practice the lap times started to fall.
Christopher Haase took the #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi to the top of the time sheets to set a session fastest time of 2:21.622, followed by Frank Stippler in the #6 Audi Sport Team Phoenix car and Marco Bonanomi rounding out an Audi 1-2-3 in the #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi.
With his third place, Bonanomi also set the fastest time in the Pro-Am Cup while the #27 Saintéloc Racing Audi set the fastest time in the Am Cup, making it an impressive session for the French squad as they topped all three classes.
#84 AMG – Team HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Maxi Buhk set the fifth fastest overall time and recorded the fastest time for the Intercontinental GT Challenge cars, with the #58 Garage 59 McLaren of Shane Van Gisbergen in eighth overall.
The session was pretty much incident-free but did see a red flag in the closing minutes after the #59 Garage 59 McLaren stopped at the Raidillon corner.
Ahead of free practice there were a few changes do the driving line-up, including Bertrand Baguette stepping in for Peter Kox in the #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8.
Jules Gounon, Luca Rettenbacher and Rik Breukers join Christopher Zöchling in the #29 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan while Ricardo Ragazzi joins the #52 AF Corse Ferrari car.
Howard Blank was also announced as a driver for the #911 RMS 911GT3 Cup, while the #41 Classic & Modern Racing Ferrari will now be competing in the Am Cup.
The next session for competitors is Pre-Qualifying, which starts at 17:45 local time and lasts 60 minutes.
