Mercedes-AMG driver Raffaele Marciello ended the opening day of the ADAC GT Masters as the fastest man, thanks to his flying lap on Friday morning. David Jahn topped the afternoon timings in his Porsche.
Marciello’s time of 1:23.767 minutes in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mann-Filter Team Landgraf – HTP/WWR was roughly 0.3 seconds faster than Jahn’s best lap in the 911 GT3 R run by the Joos Sportwagentechnik team. “It was a good day,” said Mercedes works driver Marciello, who shares the car with Maximilian Buhk. “This morning we practiced for qualifying, while we spent the afternoon doing long runs and practicing pit stops. The team and my partner are doing a great job. I am already looking forward to tomorrow’s qualifying. It is sure to be very close again.”
David Jahn, who is helping out his team at short notice, was also in a positive mood at the end of the day: “I am very happy, although I am sure that we are yet to see everything from all the teams. However, that was a good start for me with the Joos team, for whom I will be driving alongside Marco Holzer this weekend. The track was very dirty in the afternoon, as many driver – me included – had ventured into the gravel from time to time.”
Corvette drivers Marvin Kirchhöfer and Jeffrey Schmidt also impressed in the afternoon, finishing just 0.2 seconds behind Jahn in second place for Callaway Competition. Behind them, former champions Daniel Keilwitz and Sebastian Asch (Aust Motorsport) were the best-placed Audi, ahead of fellow Audi drivers Jusuf Owega and Patric Niederhauser (Rutronik Racing by Tece). Fifth place in FP2 went to last year’s champion Christian Engelhart and works driver Thomas Preining of Küs Team Bernhard in the fastest Porsche.