Porsche set the early pace at the final weekend of this season’s ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. Sven Müller (30/Bingen), who lines up alongside Joel Sturm (20/Brühl) for the Allied-Racing team in the #22 Porsche 911 GT3 R, set the fastest lap time of 1:54.434 minutes in the rain – heavy at times – in Friday morning’s first free practice session. Raffaele Marciello (27/CH) from Mann-Filter Team Landgraf was just 0.011 seconds slower in the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. This was a clear statement of intent from the championship leader, as he looks to wrap up the title in Saturday’s race with the support of team-mate Daniel Juncadella (31/E).
In third place, a considerable 0.876 seconds off the pace, was the pairing of Jack Aitken (27/GB) and Albert Costa Balboa (32/E) in the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Emil Frey Racing. Nicky Catsburg (34/NL) and Jesse Krohn (32/FIN) ended the first practice session in fourth place in the #20 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Fifth place went to Kim-Luis Schramm (25/Meuspath) and local favourite Dennis Marschall (26/Eggenstein) for Rutronik Racing in the #27 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, ensuring that all five manufacturers were represented in the top five. The second-placed pairing in the championship, Christian Engelhart (35/Starnberg) and Ayhancan Güven (24/TR) from Team Joos Sportwagentechnik, were eighth fastest in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The super sports cars were greeted by rain on Friday morning, as they took to the track for the first showdown at the Hockenheimring. Nevertheless, the drivers got straight down to business, with championship leader Raffaele Marciello, in particular, in attack mode. The Swiss driver completed one fast lap after another, going fastest at the time on his eighth lap. However, that was not quite good enough to win the opening session. Just one lap later, Sven Müller moved to the top of the timings with a lap that proved to be unbeatable. With a good quarter of an hour remaining, the 45-minute session had to be suspended briefly due to a car leaving the track. The overall standings remained the same after the restart.
The second free practice session in the German GT Championship at the Hockenheimring gets underway at 14:15 on Friday afternoon.
