Vanthoor posts fastest time on Day 1 of tests: Belgian ADAC GT Masters rookie in impressive form at Oschersleben

The start of the 2016 ADAC GT Masters season is still a couple of weeks away, but one driver in particular will have cause for satisfaction with the outcome of Day One in the official pre-season tests at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben: Laurens Vanthoor (24, BEL). The series newcomer set the fastest lap by a wide margin with a time of 1:27.294 minutes.

Today's dress rehearsals for the Super Sports Car League opener to be staged at the same venue on the weekend of 15th - 17th April consisted of three test sessions. The first of these also turned out to be the fastest. Vanthoor, who will be sharing the cockpit of an Audi R8 LMS entered by kfzteile24 - APR Motorsport with Florian Stoll (34, GER) during the 2016 campaign, outpaced his opponents by a convincing margin. The second-fastest lap set by another rookie, Jules Gounon (21, FRA) in a Callaway Competition Corvette C7 GT3, was almost half a second adrift of Vanthoor's best time. The third-fastest lap was posted by Marco Bonanomi driving an Audi R8 LMS entered by Aust Motorsport.

In the second test session, none of the drivers was able to crack the 1.28-minute mark. The quickest lap on the timesheet - 1:28.043 minutes - was set by David Jahn (25, GER) in a Porsche 911 GT3 R prepared by KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard. Around three-tenths of a second slower were Laurens Vanthoor and Aust team-mate Edward Sandström (37, SWE) ranked second and third respectively for Session 2.

On the third and final outing of Monday, Connor De Phillippi (23, USA) in an Audi R8 LMS entered by Team Montaplast by Land-Motorsport recorded the third-fastest time of the day: 1:27.940 minutes. The defending championship duo of Luca Ludwig (27, GER) and Sebastian Asch (29, GER) driving a Team Zakspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 ended the day with a P5, a P8 and a P9.

The Top Five times of the day at a glance

1. Laurens Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS), 1:27.294 mins

2. Jules Gounon (Corvette C7 GT3), 1:27.758 mins

3. Connor De Phillippi (Audi R8 LMS), 1:27.940 mins

4. Marco Bonanomi (Audi R8 LMS), 1:27.985 mins

5. David Jahn (Porsche 911 GT3 R), 1:28.042 mins

Tomorrow (5th April), the teams and drivers of the ADAC GT Masters have another three test sessions ahead of them. Fans are welcome at the race track and in the paddock. Day tickets for the price of five euros are available only at the gate.