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SMP Racing Ahead in GTE and GTC in Portugal.

The first Free Practice session at Estoril enabled the teams and drivers to get their first look at the circuit. The 90 minute session finished with the title contenders in the LMGTE and GTC classes getting ready for the all important qualifying session tomorrow morning.

18/10/2014

Red flags were shown three times during Free Practice, with the final stoppage bringing the session to a close 90 seconds early.

The nr72 SMP Racing Ferrari of Andrea Bertolini, Sergey Zlobin and Viktor Shaitar was the quickest of the LMGTE competitors, posting a 1m39.162 lap 0.6s ahead of the no85 Gulf Racing Aston Martin Vantage. The nr72 Ferrari is currently 21 points behind the nr55 AF Corse Ferrari of Matt Griffin, Duncan Cameron and Michele Rugolo in the battle for the Driver and Team titles, with the Italian team finishing 6th in the session, 1.9s behind the Russian Ferrari.

In GTC the no57 SMP Racing Ferrari was quickest with a time of 1m40.523, 0.2s ahead of title contenders Formula Racing in the nr60 Ferrari. Championship leaders in the no73 SMP Racing Ferrari were 12th fastest in the GTC class during the first session, 9.5 seconds behind the leading Ferrari.

The second Free Practice session will begin at 15:30 (local) and finish at 17:00.