Vanthoor Fastest for WRT in FP1 at Nürburgring

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Dries Vanthoor set the fastest lap time in Free Practice 1 for the final Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup round of the season at the Nürburgring on Friday morning.

The Belgian driver posted a best time of 1:56.002 in the opening 80-minute session before handing the No. 5 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT-run Audi R8 LMS over to co-driver Marcel Fassler. 

This comes after Vanthoor and Fassler dominated the previous Sprint Cup round at the Hungaroring last month, going quickest in every session before winning both races.

Frank Stippler took second position in the sole ISR Audi, setting a time 0.512 seconds slower than the WRT car. 

Czech outfit ISR has again withdrawn its No. 74 Audi from the event.

Grasser Racing Team secured third position in its new No. 82 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 which is making a one-off appearance this weekend alongside its existing two cars.

Tom Dillmann and Rolf Ineichen are driving the car, with the latter setting the pace during FP1.

Jesse Krohn and Fabrizio Crestani rounded out the top five in the No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3 and No. 27 Orange 1 Team Lazarus Lamborghini, respectively.

Crestani was the fastest Silver Cup driver while Daniel Keilwitz set the Pro-Am pace for Rinaldi Racing. 

David Perel, in the sole Am Cup entry, was classified 32nd overall out of 33 cars.

Free Practice 2 will get underway at 2:10 p.m. local time.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.