As of the first laps on the legendary Imola track, Raffaele Marciello set the tone by setting the best times in the free practice sessions. This restart allowed the drivers to get back in touch with a few automations and for the team to find its bearings. These first laps also allowed the crew of the #87 to gauge the category and competition (P4 Silver).
With the Pre-Qualifying sessions, the competition heated up. As a reminder, in case it’s impossible to run the Qualifying session, the result of Pre-Qualifying will determine the starting grid. Here too, the crew of the #88 worked wonders, and this time it was Jules Gounon who set the tone by setting his best lap of 1:40.164 in the first half of the session. After having scored two poles, two second places and a fourth place in 2021, the objective of the Qualifying session was very clear.
In the Silver Cup, the pace was just as fast, and despite a very strong opposition, Tommaso Mosca, Konstantin Tereschenko and Casper Stevenson make it into the Top 6 of the category.
On Sunday morning, Qualifying went by more or less without issue. Although it was overcast, no rain was forecast. The three sessions were however marked by some rather long interruptions and each saw the red flag.
Raffaele Marciello was the first to head out in the #88 Mercedes-AMG, he set the 3rd best time. Regional boy, Italian Tommaso Mosca, put in a good performance in the #87, setting the 3rd best time in Silver (P14 overall).
Then came the turn of Dani Juncadella in the #88 and Konstantin Tereschenko in the #87. Disrupted by a red flag, the session resulted with a 15th for the #88, penalized for not respecting track limits, and a brilliant second for the #87. Lastly, the final session allowed Jules Gounon to finish P3 and Casper Stevenson to set 8th in Silver. The average of the three times gave the PRO crew P2, starting from the second row. Hats off to the Silver trio who completed the session P2 in the category, P16 overall.
The start of the Endurance race was given at 3pm with 51 cars on the grid. When the lights went green, there was no hysteria on track and no notable incident came to disrupt the long column of cars that stretched out on the track. Well, almost… because a collision required the Safety Car to come on track for a few minutes. No change in the standings, with Raffaele Marciello sticking close to the second place sitter, while Tommaso Mosca did not let go of his place as runner-up in the Silver category. After forty minutes there was another Full Course Yellow (FCY) and Safety Car session, but nothing disrupted the classification of the Akkodis ASP Team cars.
With a little less than two hours to go, Raffaele Marciello received a warning for not respecting track limits, while Konstantin Tereschenko took the reins of the #87. A few minutes later, Dani Juncadella slid into the cockpit of the #88. By mid-race, the Spanish driver was still P3, while Konstantin Tereschenko lost some time in traffic (P4 Silver).
The third FCY was shown 10 minutes later after a great shunt right on track that left behind a lot of debris. No issues at the restart, and, with one hour remaining, Jules Gounon started the last relay in the #88. This driver change allowed the Frenchman to take second place, but might have also allowed him to take the lead with a slightly staggered tempo. Casper Stevenson took the wheel of the #87, then P6 Silver.
The last hour of the race looked like a Sprint. Jules Gounon went off to hunt down the leader. Unfortunately, the race would come to an abrupt halt for Casper Stevenson, after a collision pushed him off track. It was impossible to re-join. This retirement was very frustrating as after such good performances, the #87 really had stood a chance.
With a fourth and final FCY, the 45 final minutes of the race went by without incident. Jules Gounon crossed the finish line in second place and gave Akkodis ASP Team their first GT3 podium.
The next round of the Endurance series will take place at the Paul Ricard circuit from the 3rd to the 5th of June for 1000km of racing, but before then, the GT World Challenge Europe will head to the Brands Hatch circuit in the UK for the first round of the Sprint series, from the 30th of April to the 1st of May.