LP Racing Audi Quickest In GT2 Practice & Pre-Qualifying
Free Practice
Michael Doppelmayr and Pierre Kaffer were quickest in Free Practice at Spa-Francorchamps, as the third round of Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli got underway on Friday.
The LP Racing duo clocked a best lap time of 2:18.101s in a 60-minute session, breaking the official GT2 lap record by over two seconds at the newly-resurfaced circuit.
The #18 Audi R8 LMS GT2 finished 0.750s clear of Philippe Prette who also topped the list of Am class runners in the Italian team’s #2 Maserati GT2, after a late effort bumped him up to second place.
It demoted the #812 Team MZR KTM X-BOW GT2 of Reinhard Kofler and Martin Koch to third, ahead of Loris Hezemans and local driver Eric De Doncker in the #98 Motorsport 98 Mercedes-AMG GT2.
Razoon – More Than Racing rounded out the top five with its in-form Pro-Am pairing of Simon Birch and Thomas Andersen, one of three KTM crews in the top 10.
Ginetta clocked its first GT2 miles with the G56 GTX driven by Lawrence Tomlinson (Team CMR), as did Alfredo Hernandez Ortega in the BDR Competition by Grupo Prom Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2. Tresor Attempto Racing also turned its maiden series laps with Andrey Mukovoz and Lorenzo Patrese in the #66 Audi.
Pre-Qualifying
Michael Doppelmayr and Pierre Kaffer continued to set the pace at Spa-Francorchamps by topping Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli Pre-Qualifying on Friday.
The LP Racing crew lapped just 0.045s slower than their fastest time from Free Practice, a 2:18.146s enough for them to complete a sweep of Friday’s on-track action in the #18 Audi R8 LMS GT2.
Reinhard Kofler and Martin Koch finished 0.565s shy in the #812 Team MZR entry. Fellow KTM X-BOW GT2 outfit Razoon – More Than Racing was just over a tenth further back on a competitive day for the #80 pairing of Simon Birch and Thomas Andersen.
LP Racing’s Philippe Prette was fourth overall and fastest of the Am class runners in the #2 Maserati GT2, as he was in the morning session. Prette pipped the similar TFT Racing machine of Alexandre Leroy by a mere 0.183s.
Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Gilles Vannelet were best of the Mercedes-AMG GT2 entrants in sixth for the #87 Akkodis ASP car, ahead of #89 of RTR Projects KTM shared by Petr Lisa and Matej Homola – the crew bouncing back from a tough morning session with the seventh fastest time in the afternoon.
Fanatec GT2 teams now turn their focus to a busy Friday, featuring Qualifying from 10:15 and the first race at 14:45. Both will be streamed live via the GT World YouTube channel in English, French, German and Italian commentaries.
GT4 European Series sees L’Espace BMW set the pace – CMR Ginetta Tops Pre Qualifying
Free Practice
Misano race winners Benjamin Lessennes and Ricardo van der Ende continued their hot streak by topping opening free practice at Spa-Francorchamps in their L’Espace Bienvenue BMW M4.
Lessennes set the pace from the middle of the session, creating a comfortable gap back to his rivals before handing over for van der Ende for the second half.
A late effort from Max Kronberg put the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche he shares with Finn Zulauf on top of the Pro-Am order, while Pascal Huteau and Laurent Hurgon once again led the way in the Am class in their Schumacher CLRT Alpine.
After an accident in testing, Gabriele Piana set the early pace in his replacement Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW, before handing to Berkay Besler as the car stayed out front for much of the first half. That was until Lessennes put in a scorching time, well under the current race lap record to put the #17 BMW over a second clear.
Guest entry Mikey Porter managed to trim Lessennes’ lead to 0.8s in the Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martin he will share with Aston Millar this weekend, but that is as close as anybody got to the runaway BMW.
An impressive lap from Kronberg inside the final three minutes secured the top Pro-Am time, the German putting the W&S Porsche third overall with a superb effort. Besler and Piana held fourth, with Leo Pichler and Herolind Nuredini fifth in the #22 Allied-Racing Porsche.
Championship leaders Josh Rattican and Tom Lebbon were sixth in their Elite Motorsport McLaren, ahead of their closest rival, the #9 Matmut Évolution Toyota GR Supra driven by Enzo Joulié and Etienne Cheli.
Pre-Qualifying
A Ginetta topped a GT4 European Series Powered by RAFA Racing Club session for the first time in six years when Loris Cabirou put the British brand on top of Pre-Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.
You have to go back to qualifying at the Nürburgring in 2018 to find the last time a Ginetta led a GT4 Europe session, making Cabirou’s effort in the #56 G56 Evo that much more special. He also shares the car with Freddie Tomlinson, son of Ginetta head Lawrence this weekend.
An incredible effort from Laurent Hurgon and Pascal Huteau put the Am class Schumacher CLRT Alpine inside the top four, while Lestrup Racing BMW pair Victor Bouveng and Joakim Walde topped Pro-Am.
At the start of the session it looked like the BMWs would be strong as Gregory Guilvert (Chazel Technologie Course) traded the top time with the two Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport cars of Berkay Besler and Pedro Carvalho Ebrahim. Hugo Sasse briefly put the #99 PROsport Aston Martin top before Bouveng took a turn in the Lestrup Racing M4 before handing across to Walde.
Cabirou took over for the final half and, despite having one fastest lap deleted for track limits, his second effort put the Ginetta top, holding the 0.3s gap until red flags cut the session a few minutes short in order to recover a stranded Mustang that had stopped on track.
Bouveng and Walde held second and the honour of being fastest Pro-Am runners, with Sasse and Raphael Rennhofer third. Then came the impressive Alpine as Hurgon’s best put he and Huteau a superb fourth overall. The twin Borusan BMWs were next with Ebrahim/Yagiz Gedik leading Besler/Gabriele Piana, while two Aston Martins completed the top eight in the hands of Josh Miller/Ruben del Sarte (Mirage Racing) and Fabio Rauer/Hendrik Still (PROsport) respectively.
Klaus Tops McLaren Trophy Practice
MCLAREN FREE PRACTICE 1 TIMES >>
MCLAREN FREE PRACTICE 2 TIMES >>
Heritage GT and Touring Cars hit the track
The Heritage GTs and Touring Cars hit the track on Thursday for their first official sessions.
The Touring Cars were first out for a 40 minute free practice session with 32 0f the 39 car entry emerging to take to the track for a 40 minute session.
It would end as aBMW 1,2,3 with a pair of 1975-vintage 3.0 CSLs topping the times, Michael Kammermann’s #74 car with a 2:36.319 well ahead of the #88 car of Philippe Scemama (seen below at the pre Spa Parade photocall).
The top three was completed by Erik Quick in his #99 1995 BMW M3 E36 Fisa 2L.
Multiple Spa 24 Hours winner Jean Michel Martin finished the session in 11th spot in the 1989 E30 BW M3 he is set too share with his son, BMW factory driver and himself a Spa 24 winner, Maxime.
Amongst other notable names in the order: Mark Lemmer in a Ford Escort RS1600 ended the session in 13th, Kurt Thiim in the #122 Volvo 240 Turbo finished 28th.
The GT grid also had a 40 minute session with 44 cars taking to the track for the session.
The top spot was grabbed right at the end of the session by the Vitaphone Maserati MC12 of Alexander Rittweger – a 2:21.121 just enough to edge out another late session effort, Adrian Willmott in his 2009 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT2.
Loris Hezemans had topped the session almost to the end in the #43 1997 Lotus Elise GT1 but the car stopped on the last lap bringing out a post session red flag.
Dad and Lad Mike and Andrew Jordan both ran well, Andrew the quicker of the two in his 2011 Callaway Corvette GT3, 6th fastest, Mike in his beautifully restored #144 Flying Lizards Porsche 996 GT3 RSR from 2004 back in 12th (pictured below on Wednesday’s parade).
Peter Kox and Nico Verdonck were both in the top ten in their matched pair of Reiter Engineering GT1 Lamborghini Aventadors with other notable names including Pierre Ehret in the Ferrari F430 GTC Evo he drove in the Le Mans Series and at Le Mans, Mark Sumpter in his stunning ex Larbre Porsche 993 GT2 and Richard Meins in his ex Vitaphone Racing BMW Z4 GT3.
Endurance racing legends pics courtesy and copyright Peter Auto
