Eastalent Audi Tops Opening Portimao Practice

Photo: SRO/JEP

Eastalent Racing topped the opening practice session of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season finale weekend at Portimao.

Long-time Audi driver Christopher Haase reeled off a 1:42.643 time in his No. 84 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, just 0.004 seconds ahead of Kelvin van der Linde in the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Eastalent was not the only Audi at the sharp end of the field as Tresor Attempto Racing’s No. 99 Audi finished the session in third thanks to a lap from Alex Aka. It was also the fastest Gold Cup entry despite suffering a spin at the hands of Andrea Frassineti early on in the session.

Marco Wittmann slotted the No. 98 Rowe Racing BMW into fourth place ahead of the No. 46 Team WRT entry in fifth.

Team GetSpeed’s No. 17 car was the fastest of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos in the first practice on Friday morning. Maximilian Götz completed the session in sixth ahead of the Bronze Cup-entered No. 11 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in seventh.

Another Aston Martin was just behind; the No. 34 natural elements by Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston claimed eighth place with Henrique Chaves at the wheel.

Tommaso Mosca put the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo in ninth and Matisse Lismont rounded out the top ten and headed the Silver Cup timings in the No. 30 Team WRT BMW.

The session was largely trouble-free with no major incidents and only a handful of brief caution periods.

Free Practice 2 kicks off at 12:45 p.m. local time (7:45 a.m. ET) ahead of qualifying on Friday evening.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1 

Finlay Ringer

Finlay Ringer is a freelance motorsport journalist covering the 24H Series for Sportscar365. He is also a journalism student at City St George's, University of London, and has contributed to publications such as The Race and Autocar.