Martin Leads WRT BMW 1-2 in Rain-Soaked Free Practice

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

Maxime Martin led the way for Team WRT in Free Practice for Saturday’s Indianapolis 8 Hour, with the Belgian squad’s pair of BMW M4 GT3s placing in the top-two in the rain-soaked night-time session.

Martin turned a best lap of 1:33.864 early in the 90-minute session in the No. 31 BMW to outpace teammate Dries Vanthoor in the No. 30 entry by 0.207 seconds.

Mario Farnbacher set the third quickest time in the No. 93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, as the best of the cars competing in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro class.

Both WRT BMWs, as well as the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos from GruppeM Racing and Craft-Bamboo Racing, are racing in the specially designated Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli Pro class.

Neither of the Mercedes-AMGs ventured out during the wet session, which saw only ten of the 22 entries set times.

The No. 38 ST Racing BMW was quickest of the Pro-Am cars in fourth, followed by the No. 85 Rearden Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, which is also competing in Pro-Am.

Next up is Pre-Qualifying, which is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:25 a.m. EDT. Current forecasts call for no rain on Friday, adding to many teams’ strategy to sit out tonight’s wet running.

RESULTS: Free Practice

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