Clemens Schmid topped the timesheets during the main free practice session for this weekend's Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup opener at Monza.
Schmid, driving the #75 ISR Racing Audi R8 LMS, clocked a 1:47.858s time around the 3.6 mile circuit to lead the 90-minute Saturday morning run.
The German driver will share the car with Frank Stippler and Filip Salaquarda during Sunday's three-hour contest.
Second quickest was Christopher Haase, who turned in a 1:48.229s time behind the wheel of the Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS.
That put a gap of 0.317 seconds between the two leading Audis, with 25 other cars lapping to within a second of the overall pace.
Rounding out the top five were Christian Engelhart (Grassser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3), Will Stevens (#5 WRT Audi R8 LMS) and Louis Machiels (Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3).
Result: Blancpain GT Monza 3 Hours Practice
The session was interrupted early on when Nick Leventis' McLaren made heavy contact with the armco barrier at Variante Ascari.
Leventis was uninjured in the crash, which saw his McLaren 650S GT3 lose its entire front end and the red flags brought out for 13 minutes.
The Strakka Racing mechanics now face a rush get a spare car ready for qualifying, which takes place tomorrow morning at 09:50 local time.
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