Mercedes-AMG finished one-two in Friday's two-hour Paid Test Session at Monza, which ran ahead of this weekend's GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup event.
Last year's winning car – the #48 Team Mann-Filter entry – was quickest of all with a 1m46.246s, which was set by Lucas Auer. The #3 Verstappen Racing car was just 0.032s adrift courtesy of a 1m46.278s from his fellow AMG factory driver Jules Gounon.
McLaren is also tipped to run well this weekend and backed that up by placing third overall. Joseph Loake was within 0.052s of the overall benchmark in the #59 Garage 59 entry, while Arthur Leclerc completed the top four in his #50 AF Corse Ferrari.
Fifth went to the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Alex Frassineti, who also topped the Gold Cup class. The best Silver Cup car was the #45 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of David Perel in P8 overall, while the #57 JMW Ferrari of Thomas Kiefer paced the Bronze Cup. The full 57-car field was on-track during the test
With the first official session scheduled for Saturday morning, the final entry list for the weekend has been confirmed, including a handful of seats that were previously TBA.
In the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi, Lorenzo Ferrari has been brought in as a late replacement for Alex Aka, while Bobby Thompson will make his series debut aboard the #992 Paradine Competition BMW. The latter has moved from the Gold Cup to the Silver Cup and will see Thompson sharing with fellow rookie Josh Rowledge and Christian Hahn.
Razoon haas confirmed the full line-up for its #914 Porsche, with all three drivers set to make their GT3 debuts at Monza. The car will be driven by Lenny Ried – the son of profliic racer and team boss Christian Ried – and the father-son duo of Georgios and Stelios Kolovos. The latter is 16 years old and makes his first start in an international race this weekend.
Free Practice 1 is scheduled for 09:00 CEST on Saturday, while Free Practice 2 starts at 14:25. Both last 90 minutes and will air live on the GT World YouTube channel.