Auer Paces 24H Spa Practice

Lucas Auer set the pace during the Free Practice session for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, which was interrupted by red flags three times.

The Austrian steered the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a best lap of 2:15.234 during the 90-minute session on Thursday, which kicked off official track running for the centenary edition of the Belgian endurance classic.

Auer went 0.227 seconds faster than the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Laurin Heinrich, with Fabian Schiller third at the wheel of the No. 2 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry.

Dennis Lind picked up fourth aboard the No. 28 HAAS RT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II he shares with Simon Gachet and Jan Heylen, while Lorenzo Ferrari rounded out the top five for Tresor Attempto Racing.

The Italian led the Gold Cup class in the process, while his stablemate Aleksei Nesov did the same in Bronze Cup aboard the No. 66 Audi in sixth overall.

Nicki Thiim took seventh in the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, leading the No. 80 Lionspeed X Herberth Porsche in the hands of Alessio Picariello.

Picariello led a trio of Bronze Cup entries to round out the overall top ten, as Marvin Kirchhoefer went ninth quickest in the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and David Perel slotted into tenth for Rinaldi Racing.

Three red flags interrupted running during the 90-minute session, with the first occurring after 18 minutes when Mateo Llarena spun the No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 into the gravel at Pouhon.

Jef Machiels then hit the barriers at Raidillon aboard the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 with just under 30 minutes to go, while a third and final stoppage was triggered when Thomas Drouet stopped the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG at Malmedy in the final ten minutes.

All but one car entered into this weekend’s race set a time during the session, with the No. 23 Phantom Global Racing Porsche only completing a single exploratory lap with Jaxon Evans at the wheel before returning to the pits.

A Porsche spokesperson told Sportscar365 that a clutch change left the car in the garage for the remainder of the session.

Track action at Spa continues with Pre-Qualifying at 4:30 p.m. CEST (10:30 a.m. EDT).