HP Racing International’s Coach McKansy nipped ahead of Reno Racing’s Jens Reno Moller’s in the final moments of first free practice from Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, as Howard Blank topped the Iron Cup classification for AF Corse.
Championship leader Moller was quickest in the early stages of FP1, before a red flag emerged due to Titanium Cup debutant R. Murat Cuhadaroglu’s crash. The Dane continued to head the session on board the #11 Honda NSX GT3 Evo once free practice resumed, but had both McKansy and AF Corse’s Mario Cordoni close for comfort.
On the final lap, McKansy then put his #17 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 2019 ahead of Moller by just 0.078 seconds to top his first session of the season.
Behind, Cordoni’s Ferrari 488 GT3 was beaten to third place by Kessel Racing’s Murod Sultanov, who improved on his last lap to get within half-a-second of McKansy and Moller.
Cordoni followed the #23 Ferrari in fourth, with Denis Remenyako rising to fifth late on, giving GetSpeed Performance a strong Blancpain GT Sports Club debut on board the #13 Mercedes AMG GT3.
In sixth place was ERC Sport’s Lee Mowle, who is looking to bounce back from a difficult weekend last time out at Misano. The #44 Mercedes driver was second in the Titanium Cup, and will hope to challenge title rival McKansy come race day.
Next came a trio of Iron Cup drivers, led by the impressive Blank, who was seventh overall and looks much improved on his second Blancpain GT Sports Club outing. AF Corse team-mate Louis Philippe Soenen was second in class and eighth overall at his home event, while Iron Cup leader Stephen Earle had to settle for ninth on board the #111 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
StileF Squadra Corse driver Pavel Strukov rounded out the top 10 in the #777 Ferrari, ahead of Blancpain GT Sports Club debutant Bernhard Loffler, driving for HB Racing this weekend in the #666 Lamborghini.
Kessel Racing’s R. Murat Cuhadaroglu was taking part in his first session in the series, but had an accident at Blanchimont, with his Ferrari too damaged to continue.
Next up is Free Practice 2 at 13:40, which you can follow with live timings on the Blancpain GT Sports Club website.