WRT Audi Quickest in Opening Practice at Slovakia Ring

Stéphane Ortelli set the pace during the first practice session for the fourth round of the Blancpain Sprint Series at the Slovakia Ring.

Ortelli’s fastest lap time of 1:58.744 was over three tenths quicker than Jeroen Bleekemolen’s time in the No. 28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3. The Dutchman lapped the Slovak circuit in 1:59.116.

Rather than competing in the No. 3 G-Drive Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra with Roman Rusinov, the Monegasque driver has teamed up with German driver Fabian Hamprecht, in the fourth Audi entered under the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT banner this weekend.

ROAL Motorsport’s David Fumanelli finished Friday morning’s opening practice session in third overall and first in the Silver Cup, with a fastest lap time of 1:59.179.

Behind the No. 6 Phoenix Racing Audi of Marc Basseng and Niki Mayr-Melnhof, the No. 86 HTP Motorsport Mercedes of series newcomers Lucas Wolf and Luca Stolz was fifth fastest.

Blancpain Sprint Series points leader Maximilian Götz, racing with Nico Verdonck this weekend following the suspension of Maximilian Buhk, ended the session in eighth place overall.

A total of 12 cars were within two seconds of the pace setting Audi, although just four cars finished the session within the same second.