Mercedes-AMG works driver Jules Gounon (27/F) from Drago Racing Team ZVO won the second free practice session at the penultimate round of the ADAC GT Masters with a fantastic time. The team-mate of Fabian Schiller (25/Troisdorf) put together by far the fastest time of 1:17.950 minutes in the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, making him Friday’s fastest driver at the Sachsenring.
“An injury had kept me out of the car for three weeks, so I was thrilled to finally be able to drive again. We were not happy with the first session, but found a very good set-up and had great pace in the second free practice. The Sachsenring is my favourite circuit in Germany. I won here for the first time in 2016 and was also successful last year. When I was injured, I said to my driver and my physiotherapist: I can miss any race, just not the Sachsenring.”
The young Mercedes pairing of Elias Seppänen (18/FIN) and Frank Bird (23/GB) from Mann-Filter Team Landgraf finished the second session in second place in the #84 Mercedes-AMG GT3, 0.656 seconds behind Gounon. The best-placed Audi drivers were Thierry Vermeulen (20/NL) and Mattia Drudi (24/I) in third place in the #33 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, run by the Car Collection Motorsport team. Christian Engelhart (35/Starnberg) and Ayhancan Güven (24/TR) matched their result from the first free practice, finishing fourth for Team Joos Sportwagentechnik in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R. Completing the top five were Jusuf Owega (20/Cologne) and Dries Vanthoor (24/B) in the #29 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Montaplast by Land-Motorsport.
As in the morning’s first practice session, it took a while before the top three set their fastest lap times on Friday afternoon. Jules Gounon’s best time came just five minutes before the end of the one-hour session. Elias Seppänen and Mattia Drudi set their fastest times on lap 24 and 26 respectively.
The first qualifying session takes place from 08:50 to 09:10 on Saturday and can be seen in a free livestream at motorsport.tv and adac.de/motorsport.
