Enge Leads Lamborghini 1-2 in Opening Practice at Portimao

Tomas Enge’s G-Drive Racing Lamborghini topped the first Blancpain Sprint Series free practice session at Portimao this morning, having been the only car to break the 1:44 barrier.

The Czech driver edged out early pacesetter Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3, posting a 1:43.924 twenty minutes from the end of the session, improving the Dutchman’s time by almost six tenths.

Portimao marks the first outing of G-Drive Racing and Roman Rusinov with a Reiter Engineering-run Lamborghini, after the Russian-backed effort decided to part ways with Audi and the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT after Zandvoort.

Four Audis lined up behind the Lamborghini 1-2, with Markus Winkelhock leading the pack in the No. 6 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3 in front of the WRT-run Audis of René Rast, Stéphane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor.

Championship leaders Maxi Götz and Maxi Buhk got of to a slow start in their No. 84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, but eventually moved up to P7 (+1.447s), only 0.030s quicker than the No. 86 sister car of Silver Cup pacesetters Lucas Wolf and Luca Stolz.

Slovakia Ring winners Dominik Baumann and Tomas Jäger ended the 80-minute session in fifteenth (+2.069s) with their Schübert Motorsport BMW, none of the five Z4s taking part in the meeting making it into the top-10.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1