The second free practice session for the ADAC GT Masters at the Hockenheimring was a highly competitive affair, with the lead regularly changing hands during the 45-minute session on Friday afternoon. With time running out, Fabian Schiller (25/Troisdorf) from Drago Racing Team ZVO produced one last push in the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO and completed the fastest lap of the day in a time of 1:41.154 minutes. In doing so, the man from Troisdorf showed that he and partner Jules Gounon (27/F) have not yet given up on the title, despite lying third coming into the season finale. “We started on wets and then, like everyone else, switched to slicks. That worked well. The fastest time of the day once again shows that we have a strong package and our Mercedes is up there at the front in all conditions at any circuit. The championship is pretty much out of reach for us, but we will keep on fighting to the finish,” promised Fabian Schiller.
In second place, just 0.008 seconds slower, were Thierry Vermeulen (20/NL) and Mattia Drudi (24/I) in the #33 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Car Collection Motorsport. Nicky Catsburg (34/NL) and Jesse Krohn (32/FIN) in the #20 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 went one better than in FP1, ending the second session in third place. The best-placed Lamborghini was that of Jack Aitken (27/GB) and Albert Costa Balboa (32/E) from Emil Frey Racing in fourth place. They were followed in fifth place by the Montaplast by Land-Motorsport pairing of Christopher Mies (33/Düsseldorf) and Tim Zimmermann (26/Langenargen) in the #1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. The second-placed duo in the championship, Christian Engelhart (35/Starnberg) and Ayhancan Güven (24/TR), were sixth in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Team Joos Sportwagentechnik, while championship leader Raffaele Marciello (27/CH) and his partner Daniel Juncadella (31/E) guided the #48 Mamba to eleventh place for Mann-Filter Team Landgraf.
All the drivers started Friday afternoon’s second free practice on wet tyres. While the track was damp in places at the start of the session, it soon dried out, prompting everyone to switch to slicks. After that, the fastest times started to tumble, practically by the second, before Fabian Schiller set the last-minute fastest time on his final lap. 14 drivers ended the second session within one second of each other.
The first qualifying session takes place from 09:00 to 09:20 on Saturday and will be streamed live on motorsport.tv and free at adac.de/motorsport.
