Engel Leads GruppeM Mercedes 1-2 in Opening Gulf 12H Practice

Photo: JEP/SRO

Maro Engel led the way in opening Free Practice for Sunday’s Gulf 12 Hours, putting the repaired No 98 Team GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo atop the time charts.

The German reeled off a best lap of 1:52.169 early in the two-hour session at Yas Marina Circuit to edge out the sister No. 89 Mercedes of Jules Gounon, Dani Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello by 0.265 seconds.

Engel recorded the two quickest times of the session, also setting a 1:52.339 in the process in the car that was heavily damaged by co-driver Lucas Auer on Friday.

The No. 1 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes of Martin Kodric was third overall and quickest of the GT3 Pro-Am competitors, also in a car that found the barriers in one of the test sessions.

Sainteloc’s No. 25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Christopher Haase, Patric Niederhauser and Erwan Bastard was fourth thanks to a 1:52.518 lap time, with Kessel Racing’s No. 33 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 completing the top-five overall.

The Kessel car is a new chassis following Murat Cuhadaroglu’s accident in Friday evening’s session.

The No. 75 SunEnergy1 by SPS Mercedes posted the sixth quickest time, followed by the No. 77 Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes, No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, No. 88 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 and No. 66 Team Tressor Audi, which completed the top-ten.

Mikael Grenier put the No. 8 Ram Racing Mercedes quickest in GT3 Am, while the No. 92 Centri Porsche Ticino Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car paced the GT Cup class.

Unlike Friday’s incident-filled test sessions, FP1 ran without any major incidents or red flags although several Full Course Yellows were deployed.

Free Practice 2, which runs for 60 minutes, is set to get underway at 3 p.m. local time.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John