Audi posted the first clear statement of intent at the opening round of this season’s ADAC GT Masters in Oschersleben. Two cars from the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer topped the timing sheet in Friday morning’s first free practice session, which took place on a dry track in a cool eleven degrees. The fastest lap time of 1:22.549 minutes was set by Dennis Marschall (25/Eggenstein) of Rutronik Racing. The 25-year-old and his partner Kim-Luis Schramm (24/Meuspath) were also the fastest pair in the #27 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II at the pre-season test at the same venue.
Patric Niederhauser (30/CH) and Luca Engstler (22/Wiggensbach) took just 0.162 seconds longer than their team-mates to complete their fastest lap of the 3.667-kilometre circuit in the #15 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Third place went to the Allied Racing pairing of Joel Sturm (20/Brühl) and Sven Müller (30/Bingen) in the #22 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Mann-Filter Team Landgraf announced the drivers for its second car at the season-opener. Sharing the cockpit of the #84 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo are Elias Seppänen (18/FIN) and Frank Bird (22/GB).
