HTP Motorsport finished one-two and Mercedes notched up a sweep of the top three places in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup qualifying race at Misano.
Maximilian Buhk and Franck Perera led most of the 60-minute contest after the pole sitting Attempto Racing Lamborghini encountered fuel pressure trouble early on.
Buhk inherited the lead when Marco Mapelli pulled the Lamborghini into the pits after just 10 minutes at the front.
Buhk then maintained his lead until the pit window before handing over to Perera, who in turn extended the advantage over Fabien Schiller/Jules Szymkowiak in the silver-class HTP Motorsport Mercedes to a winning margin of 5.783 seconds.
Michael Meadows and ex-Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello completed the three-pointed star's sweep of the podium in the #90 AKKA-ASP Mercedes.
Incidents were frequent at the narrow 2.6 mile Misano circuit, with a large 34-strong grid making for a congested opening stanza.
The race was red flagged on the first lap for a multi-vehicle pileup set off by Will Stevens' rotating Audi R8 that collected numerous other cars.
Six entries, including the #44 Strakka Racing McLaren driven by Jonny Kane and the #8 M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 of Andy Soucek, were eliminated on the spot.
That resulted in a red flag stoppage, with the remaining entries returning to the grid for a second start attempt.
Another early altercation involved the Mercedes entries of Marciello and Dominik Bauman, with the latter dropping to 20th overall.
A late clash decided the battle for fourth place as Andrew Watson's McLaren and Christian Engelhart's Lamborghini simultaneously took a trip into the gravel after tangling with a backmarker. That incident drew in the #7 M-Sport Bentley of Vincent Abril, who slipped past his ailing rivals to take the place and make slight amends for the sister car's premature retirement.
Completing the top five were Felix Serralles and Daniel Juncadella in their Mercedes AMG-GT3, while defending Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup champion Enzo Ide took sixth with team-mate Christopher Mies.
The main race of the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup opening weekend takes place on Sunday, April 2 at 12:30 local time.
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