Dries Vanthoor on Top in Nürburgring Practice

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Dries Vanthoor ensured that he and Nico Mueller would finish on top after Free Practice for the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup at the Nürburgring.

The weekend started with two practice sessions on Friday, and it was in the first session that the youngest of the Vanthoor brothers would set the day’s best time of a 1:27.488 in his No. 4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS.

As usual, the first 40 minutes of the morning session was reserved for the Amateur drivers carrying Bronze and Silver rankings, before the Pros joined in later.

While Stuart Leonard took second position in the first session, driving his No. 2 WRT Audi entered in the Silver Cup, several other drivers would set faster times later in the day.

Mirko Bortolotti set the pace in the afternoon session, for Grasser Racing Team with the No. 63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3, that he shares with Nicolas Pohler. The Italian’s best time was a 1:27.511.

Laurens Vanthoor had led the second session early on before being bettered by Bortolotti. This gave Vanthoor second position at the end, having set a 1:27.739 in his No. 1 WRT Audi.

Christopher Mies put the No. 33 WRT Audi into third in the afternoon, while Stefan Rosina was fourth in the No. 16 Grasser Lamborghini.

Kessel Racing led the way in Pro-Am, with its No. 11 Ferrari 488 GT3, while AF Corse’s No. 55 Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 was the pace of the two-car Am field. Leonard’s morning time wasn’t beaten amongst the Silver Cup runners.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.