Vanthoor Fastest in Opening Spa Practice

Laurens Vanthoor set the quickest time in the opening DTM Free Practice session at Spa, leading a Porsche one-two ahead of Thomas Preining.

The Belgian reeled off a lap of 2:17.811 behind the wheel of the No. 92 SSR Performance Porsche 911 GT3 R, 0.124 seconds clear of the No. 24 KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche driven by Preining.

It was the first time DTM cars hit the circuit under the current GT3 ruleset, having last raced there during the final year of the Class One era in 2020.

The series did not visit the Ardennes venue last year, with Circuit Zolder occupying the Belgian slot on the calendar instead.

Vanthoor’s flyer knocked the No. 3 Abt Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Kelvin van der Linde off the top spot after the South African had gone quickest early on with a best effort of 2:17.953.

Van der Linde would not improve upon his lap and ultimately end the session fourth, further dropped down by improvements from both Preining and Mirko Bortolotti.

Bortolotti’s No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo clocked a best lap of 2:17.940 to go third, 0.129 seconds behind Vanthoor and just a fraction down on Preining.

Behind Van der Linde, Mikael Grenier completed the top five as the best of the Mercedes-AMG contingent with Dennis Olsen sixth in the sister SSR Porsche.

Lucas Auer led Arjun Maini and Luca Stolz in seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. Nico Mueller rounded out the top ten for Team Rosberg.

The opening session remained green throughout with no notable incident, even with a late rain shower that briefly saw championship leader Sheldon van der Linde off the road at Les Combes.

The second Free Practice session takes place at 3:15 p.m. CEST (9:15 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Practice 1