The fifth V de V Endurance Series encounter of 2017 kicked off under clear skies on Friday at the wonderful Mugello arena. A look at the lap times revealed each driver's determination to pe💯rform here while the races plan to be both hot and challenging.

6 Hours GT / Touring cars / LM P3 Endurance: Advantage AB Sport Auto

In the land of Ferrari 488 (Visiom) and Ferrari 458 (AF Corse), AB Sport Auto were untouchable on Friday - recording the fastest lap timeꦬ of the day. The #45 Renault R.S.01 entrusted to drivers Thybaud, Proust and Jousse raised the bar for the hungry pack of GTV1 cars, 7 here this weekend, after AF Corse (#51) proved quickest in the morning session. The Dodge Viper prepared by ANTeam, driven by Stucky and Yerly was hot on the Italian team's tail, and further behind, the #11 Renault R.S. 01, prepared by AB Sport Auto and V de V also showed incredible pace. Returning to the Challenge this weekend, WRT and drivers Vervisch, Soenen and Detavernier proved they too were in the fight for the fastest time - setting the second best lap of the afternoon session. Solution F (Charriol, Rayneri and Chardonnet) had a great day of running in their powerful SF V8 machine, while Mallegol, Bachelier and Blank were the fastest of the GTV2 runners in their Porsche 991 GT3 Cup.

LM P3 / PFV: Either one or the other

After commanding the category since the start of the season, the Ginetta G57 #57 prepared by Simpson Motorsport was overthrown this weekend by Race Performance's #59 ma𝐆chine (McKinnon / Jackson) in the first session, then by CWS Recycling's #55 Ginetta (Robertson / White) in the second.

New to the LMP3 category, GPC Motorsport - in collaboration with Yvan Muller Racing - with drivers Coigny and Alexander-David managed to get in among the fierce Ginetta prototypes during morning practic﷽e, and proved quicker than current championship leader Tomlinson, who this weekend races alongside Lancaster and Sanders. The task won't be easy for car #20, as Ginetta are represented by none less than 6 cars here at Mugello - the largest turnout for the British manufacturer yet this season. Ligier also have a comfortable number of entrantsꦡ - 7 in total - including Inter Europol Competition (Smiechowski / Hippe) and Graff (Trouillet / Rosselo / Dagoneau), strong contenders for qualifying.

6 Hours V de V Endurance Proto: CD Sport first to shine

The team managed by Claude Degremont wished to remind everyone🌸 of their previous success at Mugello in 2015 - and Friday's sessions saw both the #30 Norma M20 FC (Accary / Dhouailly / Haezebrouck) and the #31 car (Maulini / Bole-Besan?on / Foubert) swap positions at the top of the time sheets. The #30 recorded the second best time in afternoon practice, while TFT's #2 Norma justified its status as current championship leader after creeping into the second slot in the morning.

Tony Pereira's team also managed t🌟o place car #8 - entrusted to Capillaire, Lacoste and Dromedari - in the top 3, while Equipe Palmyr showed strong pace with their #40 Norma. Avelon Formula, on their home track here at Mugello, squeezed their Wolf prototype powered by a turbo engine into the top 10 in morning practice. Finally, Saturday's qualifying plans to be intense between teams TFT (car #5) and Equipe Palmyr (car #42) - tied for first place in the championship standings within the Prestige category.