Porsche dominated the first free practice of the ADAC GT Masters weekend at the Nürburgring. Matteo Cairoli (23, ITA, Küs Team75 Bernhard) set the fastest time of the one-hour session in his 911 GT R ahead of Thomas Preining (21, AUT, Precote Herberth Motorsport) in a Porsche fielded by a rival outfit. In third place was Maro Engel (33, Monte Carlo, Toksport WRT) in the best of the Mercedes-AMG contingent. SPORT1 will be showing the two races on the famous circuit in the Eifel hills live and in full length. Saturday's race starts at 14:45 and Sunday's at 13:05 CEST. Alternatively, the action can be followed online via the livestream services of sport1.de, adac.de/motorsport and youtube.com/adac.
Cairoli's time of 1:28.263 minutes was a mere 15 thousandths of a second faster than that set by Preining in the Precote Porsche. "That was a good session for us," said Italian ace Cairoli. "The car handled well, and we are happy with the setup and the balance. There are only a few details we still have to work on. We were already very fast in yesterday's tests, especially in the wet."
In third place behind Preining, who shares the cockpit of his 911 with defending champion Robert Renauer, was the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Luca Stolz (24, GER) and Maro Engel (33, MON, both Toksport WRT). Engel's best lap was only 0.072 seconds shy of Cairoli's. Completing the Top Five were the same two Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS cars that notched up a one-two last weekend at Zandvoort. Ricardo Feller (19, CH) and Dries Vanthoor (21, BEL) went marginally faster than Max Hofer (20, AUT) and Christopher Mies (30, GER).
First live event of the ADAC GT Masters Esports Championship
Nürburgring debut: On Saturday, the first of four live events in the newly inaugurated ADAC GT Masters Esports Championship will be held at the Eifel circuit. The eight permanent starters and four wild card contestants will compete against each other in the RaceRoom Café on Ringboulevard. The 40-minute race starts at 18:10 CEST. The SimRacing event will be broadcast live on the ADAC GT Masters Facebook page as well as on RaceRoom's YouTube and Twitch channels. SPORT1 and the pay-TV channel eSPORTS1 will also broadcast extensive coverage.
Timo Bernhard opens exhibition
An unmissable draw for Porsche fans: On Saturday at 12:00 CEST, ADAC GT Masters driver and team boss Timo Bernhard (38, GER, Küs Team75 Bernhard) will be opening the new Porsche Tribute collection at ring° werk. The exhibition in the Erlebnismuseum Nürburgring honours Bernhard's record lap of 5:19.546 minutes on the legendary Nordschleife in June 2018. Fans can also admire the latest racing model, the 1,160-horsepower Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo.
Girl power at the Nürburgring
Young women from 8 to 18 years are welcome to participate in the Dare to be Different Girls Day on Saturday and Sunday at the Nürburgring. Staged as part of the ADAC GT Masters weekend, this event is intended to provide an insight into the professional opportunities for women in the world of motorsport. Amongst the activities on offer are practice laps on a professional racing simulator, go karting, chatting to female racers, engineers and journalists, and participation in technical workshops.
Christopher Mies on PS on Air
Audi driver Christopher Mies (30, GER, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) will be a guest on PS on Air - Der ADAC GT Masters-Talk tomorrow (Saturday). Patrick Simon will be interviewing the 2016 champion in the paddock of the Eifel circuit, starting at 19:30 CEST. The programme will be broadcast live on youtube.com/adac, the ADAC GT Masters Facebook channel and the Patrick Simon YouTube channel at youtube.com/Patsimon75.