Haase Leads Audi 1-2 in First Dry Session at Suzuka

Photo: Dirk Bogaerts/SRO

Late flyers by Christopher Haase and Dries Vanthoor have put Audi 1-2 on the time sheets in the first dry running of the weekend for Suzuka 10 Hours competitors.

A 2:02.651 set by Haase in the closing stages of the one-hour session in the No. 125 Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo edged out fellow factory driver Vanthoor, in Team WRT’s entry, by 0.041 seconds.

The No. 999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-ANG GT3, which topped every session up until Saturday morning, was third quickest, followed by the No. 35 KCMG Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and No. 27 HubAuto Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, which completed the top-five.

The session was halted twice for incidents, the first for the No. 911 EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R of Mathieu Jaminet coming to a halt on track.

A second red flag came out when Adrian Henry d’Silva spun and hi-sighted his No. 43 Strakka Racing Mercedes on a curb.

Qualifying, which features three 15-minute sessions for each driver, gets underway at 1 p.m. and will determine the grid for the Top 20 Shootout later in the afternoon.

RESULTS: Free Practice 3

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