Portimão practice: GetSpeed Mercedes tops FP2 after Haase led FP1 for Eastalent
The #99 Tresor Attempto Audi was top three twice, the #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes climbed to fourth in FP2, and the top ten were within half a second
The #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed car set the fastest time in Free Practice 2 for the GT World Challenge Europe season finale at Portimão, a 1:42.988, 0.096 seconds ahead of the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi. In the morning, Christopher Haase had topped Free Practice 1 in the #84 Eastalent Racing Audi. Below are both sessions.
Updated 15:21 CEST, six minutes after Free Practice 2. Provisional results from the official live timing. Free Practice 2 ran from 12:45 to 14:15 local time (13:45 to 15:15 CEST).
Free Practice 2: GetSpeed Mercedes on top, Verstappen Racing car fourth
The #99 Tresor Attempto Audi was the fastest Gold Cup car for the second session in a row, this time in second place. The #65 HRT Ford Racing Mustang led the Silver Cup in third. The #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing car was fourth, 0.241 seconds off the pace, a big step from 20th in the morning. The ten fastest cars were covered by less than half a second.
| Pos. | Car | Team | Drivers | Model | Class | Best lap | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #17 | Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed | Ralf Aron, Maximilian Götz, Fabian Schiller | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Pro | 1:42.988 | – |
| 2 | #99 | Tresor Attempto Racing | Dylan Pereira, Andrea Frassineti, Alex Aka | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Gold | 1:43.084 | +0.096 |
| 3 | #65 | HRT Ford Racing | Maxime Oosten, Nicolas Baert, Eduardo Coseteng | Ford Mustang GT3 | Silver | 1:43.168 | +0.180 |
| 4 | #3 | Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing | Max Verstappen, Ben Barnicoat, Chris Lulham | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Pro | 1:43.229 | +0.241 |
| 5 | #12 | GetSpeed Team Dubai | Gabriel Rindone, Mikael Grenier, Tom Kalender | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Bronze | 1:43.263 | +0.275 |
| 6 | #991 | Paradine Competition | Darren Leung, James Kellett, TBA | BMW M4 GT3 | Bronze | 1:43.266 | +0.278 |
| 7 | #64 | HRT Ford Racing | Arjun Maini, Fabio Scherer, Thomas Drouet | Ford Mustang GT3 | Pro | 1:43.287 | +0.299 |
| 8 | #84 | Eastalent Racing | Christopher Haase, Simon Reicher, Markus Winkelhock | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Pro | 1:43.350 | +0.362 |
| 9 | #80 | Lionspeed GP | Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining, Bastian Buus | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Pro | 1:43.423 | +0.435 |
| 10 | #23 | Team RJN | Maxwell Lynn, Horatio Fitz-Simon, Ben Dörr | McLaren 720S GT3 Evo | Silver | 1:43.443 | +0.455 |
In the Bronze Cup, the only class title still open, the #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG and Darren Leung’s #991 Paradine Competition BMW were fifth and sixth, three thousandths apart. Read more in our preview of the Bronze Cup fight. Haase’s #84 Eastalent Audi was eighth.
The session was otherwise quiet. It was interrupted once by a Full Course Yellow when the #53 stopped beside the track with a problem.
Free Practice 1: Haase puts the Eastalent Audi on top
Twenty-one cars within 0.419 seconds: the first free practice session for the GT World Challenge Europe season finale at Portimão showed how close the GT3 field is after the Balance of Performance. Christopher Haase set the fastest time in the #84 Eastalent Racing Audi, a 1:42.643, just four thousandths ahead of the #32 Team WRT BMW.
Provisional result from the official live timing; the session ran from 08:45 to 10:15 local time (09:45 to 11:15 CEST).
Four thousandths between the top two, five cars inside a tenth
Behind the leading pair, the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi was third and fastest in the Gold Cup, 0.043 seconds off the pace. The #98 Rowe Racing BMW and the #46 Team WRT BMW, the car Valentino Rossi shares, completed a top five covered by 0.063 seconds.
| Pos. | Car | Team | Drivers | Model | Class | Best lap | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #84 | Eastalent Racing | Christopher Haase, Simon Reicher, Markus Winkelhock | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Pro | 1:42.643 | – |
| 2 | #32 | Team WRT | Kelvin van der Linde, Jordan Pepper, Charles Weerts | BMW M4 GT3 | Pro | 1:42.647 | +0.004 |
| 3 | #99 | Tresor Attempto Racing | Dylan Pereira, Andrea Frassineti, Alex Aka | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Gold | 1:42.686 | +0.043 |
| 4 | #98 | Rowe Racing | Philipp Eng, Jake Dennis, Marco Wittmann | BMW M4 GT3 | Pro | 1:42.689 | +0.046 |
| 5 | #46 | Team WRT | Neil Verhagen, Max Hesse, Valentino Rossi | BMW M4 GT3 | Pro | 1:42.706 | +0.063 |
| 6 | #17 | Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed | Ralf Aron, Maximilian Götz, Fabian Schiller | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Pro | 1:42.795 | +0.152 |
| 7 | #11 | Comtoyou Racing | Marcelo Tomasoni, Aaron Muss, TBA | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Bronze | 1:42.850 | +0.207 |
| 8 | #34 | Walkenhorst Motorsport | Jamie Day, Christian Krognes, Henrique Chaves | Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | Pro | 1:42.865 | +0.222 |
| 9 | #51 | AF Corse | Tommaso Mosca, Lorenzo Ferrari, Nicola Lacorte | Ferrari 296 GT3 | Pro | 1:42.892 | +0.249 |
| 10 | #30 | Team WRT | Ignacio Montenegro, Matisse Lismont, Amaury Cordeel | BMW M4 GT3 | Silver | 1:42.902 | +0.259 |
| 20 | #3 | Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing | Max Verstappen, Ben Barnicoat, Chris Lulham | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Pro | 1:43.046 | +0.403 |
Class leaders
The #11 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin was the fastest Bronze Cup car in seventh place, ahead of the #222 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG (15th) and the #77 KPX Motorsport BMW (16th). The Bronze Cup is the only title still open this weekend; read our preview of the Bronze Cup fight. In the Silver Cup the #30 Team WRT BMW led in tenth, while the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi topped the Gold Cup.
The #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing car, in which Max Verstappen makes his series debut, was 20th, 0.403 seconds off the fastest time. The team had planned one last quick lap on new tyres at the end of the session, but a Full Course Yellow put an end to that run. Every car and crew is in our Portimão entry list.
Our read
Practice times say little about the order on Saturday: teams run different fuel loads and programmes, and every driver needs laps. Two things stand out after two sessions. The #99 Tresor Attempto Audi was in the top three twice and looks like the Gold Cup car to beat, and the field remains extremely tight, so qualifying, where the grid is set by the average of three drivers, will decide a lot. How GT World Challenge qualifying works.
Qualifying at 17:55 local, the race on Saturday
Result, 16 October: Boutsen VDS took pole and the #3 Verstappen Racing car qualified 15th, see the Portimão qualifying results. The three-hour race starts on Saturday at 17:00 local and UK time (18:00 CEST, 12:00 ET). Follow the race in our live blog.
Source: official SRO live timing (Swiss Timing), provisional classifications.
Who do you expect on pole tonight after two practice sessions this close? Tell us in the comments.
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