Riberas, WRT Narrowly Lead Free Practice at Barcelona

Photo: Patrick Hecq/SRO

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT topped the timesheets in Free Practice at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday morning with one of its Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evos going just 0.002 seconds clear.

It was the first official full-field session of the weekend after Friday afternoon’s Bronze test and 4.5 hours of paid testing sessions on Thursday and Friday.

WRT’s session-topping car was the No. 2 Audi shared by Dries Vanthoor, Alex Riberas and Ezequiel Perez Companc.

Riberas’ best time of 1:45.326 set midway through the 90-minute session remained unbeaten, with Orange 1 FFF Racing Team and AKKA ASP trailing the Belgian outfit at the top of the timesheets.

Those second and third-placed teams were represented by their No. 519 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo and No. 88 Mercedes-AMG GT3, respectively.

Black Falcon’s lead car placed fourth, while AKKA ASP’s No. 90 Mercedes was fifth and quickest in the Silver Cup.

The Pro-Am class lead also went to a Mercedes-AMG; Ram Racing’s car shared by Tom Onslow-Cole and Remon Vos. Raton Racing by Target’s Lamborghini led the Am Cup from 17th overall, meanwhile.

The session had a couple of red-flag periods called for spins from cars including the Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini and Tempesta Racing Ferrari 488 GT3.

Pre-Qualifying will get underway at 3:05 p.m. local time (9:05 a.m. EDT) for another 90 minutes of running. 

RESULTS: Free Practice

Jake Kilshaw

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