Eastalent Racing has made a perfect start to its first full season in GT World Challenge Europe, with its #84 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II topping the times in the Prologue test at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Series returnee Christopher Haase set a 1:54.382 during this morning’s final session of the two-day test, during which the three fastest times were all achieved.
Haase led the #2 Boutsen VDS and #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 Rs (992.2) by 0.283 seconds and 0.289 seconds respectively, in a strong start for the new 992.2-spec Porsches in GT World Challenge Europe competition.
“The pace is looking good,” Lionspeed’s Bastian Buus told DSC. “You can’t really judge the competition, so we’re waiting for qualifying and the race to see the true speed of everyone. So far, we can only focus on ourself and prepare as much as we can do.”
Running began with a four-hour session on Wednesday morning, which was topped by Buus’ co-driver Thomas Preining. The Porsche factory driver set a 1:54.682, eclipsing longtime session leader Haase by 0.086 seconds.
Haase held on to second in the #84 Eastalent Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, with the #111 CSA Racing McLaren GT3 Evo, #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG GT3 Evo and #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche completing the top five.
With a significant amount of Pirelli rubber set to be laid down before Saturday’s race, however, conditions were far from representative from those that will be experienced during the six-hour, into-the-night affair.
“My car didn’t feel that great,” Haase told DSC after the first session. “I have to say the track seems to be very green, super low grip, which I think makes it hard for everybody, but somehow I managed to have a good lap.”
In the three-hour afternoon session, Ben Dörr led the way in Team RJN’s #23 McLaren GT3 Evo, and although his 1:54.762 failed to surpass Preining’s morning benchmark, it was enough to set the fastest Silver Cup time of the whole test.
Loek Hartog was second in the #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche, 0.042 seconds back, and ahead of the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed, #80 Lionspeed and #3 Verstappen Racing efforts.
Running then concluded with four more hours of track time this morning, during which Haase set his test-topping time.
Behind the Audi, the top places were once again dominated by Porsche and Mercedes-AMG. Herberth Motorsport’s #91 Porsche set the best Bronze Cup time in fourth, with the #17 GetSpeed AMG GT3 EVO fifth.
BMW, which has won at Circuit Paul Ricard for the past two years, has had a quiet Prologue. The M4 GT3 Evo has taken a Balance of Performance hit for this race compared to 12 months ago, but Team WRT still placed a pair of cars in the top seven during the opening session.
It’s been a difficult European debut for the Lamborghini Temerario GT3, which hasn’t finished in the top 55 during any session. The car’s best time, a 1:56.059, came this morning, courtesy of the #63 TGI Team by GRT Lamborghini.
The Prologue has run relatively clean, with only one major accident. Early in the final session, Jamie Day had a significant off at Turn 7 aboard the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.
Day was okay, but the car was seriously damaged at both ends. With the chassis done, we now await a decision as to what the German outfit does next.
Also in trouble has been the #18 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, which stopped out on circuit during the opening session, and had an incident which limited its mileage during this morning’s running.
Across the results, driver names are to be taken with a degree of caution, with DSC aware of multiple instances where the incorrect name was showing. Most amusingly, perhaps, was Ash Sutton turning laps in the #992 Paradine Competition BMW whilst simultaneously running at the British Touring Car Championship’s pre-season test at Brands Hatch.
Session 3 result to follow…
For the 59-car field, it is now a rapid turnaround ahead of race weekend proper, with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying for the season opener taking place tomorrow.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
