Porsche works driver Thomas Preining set the fastest time of the second free practice session at the Sachsenring. However, he was unable to beat the fastest time of the day, set by Igor Walilko in a Mercedes-AMG.
As in the morning session, it was Porsche, Mercedes-AMG and Audi who dominated proceedings at the challenging circuit on Friday afternoon. This time, Preining set the fastest lap time in a 911 GT3 R. The Austrian’s fastest lap: 1:19.299 minutes. That rounded off a successful opening day for Küs Team Bernhard: Preining’s partner Christian Engelhart was fourth fastest in FP1.
“A good day and a good start to the weekend,” said defending champion Engelhart. “We are really happy. Our basic set-up was very good, and we have now fine-tuned that a little. We have had a tough season so far and are working very hard to recover. It’s all about tomorrow. Hopefully it will go as well as it did today in the second practice.”
Second place in the afternoon session went to the Mercedes-AMG of Constantin Schöll and Hendrik Still from the Zakspeed Mobil Krankenkasse Racing team. They were just 0.164 seconds off the fastest time. Third, with a time of 1:19.480 minutes were Porsche drivers Klaus Bachler/Simona De Silvestro (Precote Herberth Motorsport). Fourth place went to the Audi of Jusuf Owega and Patric Niederhauser. They set a time of 1:19.493 minutes in the Phoenix Racing R8 LMS. Fifth-placed Mathieu Jaminet and Michael Ammermüller (SSR Performance) were 0.293 seconds off Preining’s best time in their Porsche.
Friday’s fastest man was Igor Walilko. The Pole set a lap time of 1:18.818 minutes in the midday Trophy session, which is exclusively for drivers in the Pirelli Trophy and Pirelli Junior competitions. That time was marginally faster than his partner Jules Gounon, who lapped the Sachsenring in 1:18.887 minutes in the Zakspeed BKK Mobil Krankenkasse Racing team’s second Mercedes-AMG GT3 in free practice one.