Eastalent Racing’s Christopher Haase was fastest in the opening Free Practice session at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve ahead of this weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season finale.
Haase, piloting the #84 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, reeled off a 1:42.643 with just under 30 minutes of the 90-minute session remaining to surpass the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Kelvin van der Linde by 0.004 seconds. The pair’s times then went unchallenged for the rest of a close Free Practice 1 which saw 50 cars covered by less than one second.
Third, and fastest in the Gold Cup, was the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II courtesy of a 1:42.686 from Alex Aka.
Marco Wittmann was fourth overall in the #98 Rowe Racing BMW, ahead of the #46 Team WRT BMW of Max Hesse and #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed AMG GT3 EVO of Maximilian Götz.
The #11 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Valentin Hasse-Clot topped the Bronze Cup, with the Frenchman setting a 1:42.850 to end up seventh overall.
The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin and #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo came next, with the Silver Cup-leading #30 Team WRT BMW rounding out the top 10 thanks to a 1:42.902 from Ignacio Montenegro, with the Argentinian improving late on compared to a 1:43.050 set by his co-driver Matisse Lismont.
All 61 cars participated in FP1, with the #91 Herberth Motorsport and #269 High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Rs (992.2) completing the most laps at 44 apiece. Everyone covered at least 20 laps.
It was a clean session, with the only interruption coming in the form of a test Full Course Yellow inside of the final five minutes.
The most significant incident involved Max Verstappen and Ezequiel Perez Companc, with the pair making contact at Turn 3 on the Dutchman’s first timed lap aboard the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG. Perez Companc’s #25 Sainteloc Racing Audi was rotated as a result, but neither car sustained any damage of note.
Free Practice 2 in Portimão will take place at 12:45 WEST, ahead of this evening’s Qualifying session at 17:55 WEST.
Image courtesy of SRO/JEP
