WRT Audi headed the Blancpain Sprint Series’ first session of the year, with rookie Robin Frijns setting the fastest time in FP1 in the #1 Audi R8, a 1:25.381 in tricky damp conditions in South-West France. It was a session headed by five entires bearing the four-rings on their grill. It looks to be a great Easter weekend of racing to kick off the Blancpain GT Series season.
A healthy field of 19 cars are on hand for the weekend’s action, with plenty of faces new and old making up what is a diverse field representing a total of nine manufacturers.
Two entries from the original full season list haven’t made the trip to France, with the second #25 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini and the #62 Fortec Motorsports Mercedes reducing the grid size to 19 from the original 21. Reiter have got a presence at Nogaro however, with the #88 Lamborghini Gallardo of Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Nick Catsburg representing the famous Italian marque.
Craig Dolby headed the field in the early part of the session in the #71 MRS GT Nissan GT-R, but as the conditions improved throughout, an armada of Audi R8s would take over the top five spots, relegating the Nissan to 8th by session end.
Second fastest in the session, and two tenths back from Frijns was the #3 WRT Audi of Stéphane Rechemlmi and Oretlli, with the #6 Phoenix Audi with the duo of Niki Mayer-Melnof and Markus Winkelhock breaking up the WRT quartet after a time of 1:25.612.
4th and 5th in the session were the remaining WRT runners – the #4 leading the #2. Fastest of the non-Audi runners being Attempo Racing’s brand new #55 McLaren 650s that’s being driven by the rapid pairing of Frenchman Kevin Estre and Rob Bell this season.
Fach Tech Auto’s Porsche went quickest of the four Pro Am runners and 10th overall, while the #74 ISR Audi headed the Silver Cup which this season looks to be just two entries strong, and sat 15th.
Stephen Kilbey
