The youngsters are setting the pace again in the ADAC GT Masters. 18-year-old Elias Seppänen (FIN) from Mann-Filter Team Landgraf was the fastest driver in Friday afternoon’s second free practice session in Zandvoort, setting the day’s fastest time of 1:34.223 minutes in the #84 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. The young Finn and his partner Frank Bird (22/GB) showed on the opening day of round three of the German GT Championship that they are a force to be reckoned with at the circuit in the Dutch dunes. The young duo was making its first appearance in the yellow and green Mamba livery, and struck immediately.
Franck Perera (38/F) and Arthur Rougier (22/F) from the Emil Frey Racing team, who won this morning’s first practice session with a time of 1:34.467 minutes, impressed again in the #19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. They improved in the second, faster session and ended the practice just 0.07 seconds slower than the Mamba in second place. The best-placed Porsche was the 911 of Joel Sturm (20/Brühl) and Sven Müller (30/Bingen), who were third fastest in the number 22 Allied Racing car.
Right from the word go, the second free practice session in Zandvoort proved to be a fierce battle to set the fastest lap. In track temperatures of over 35 degrees, there was no feeling each other out. Instead, fast lap times were set from early on in the session. For a long time, the Allied Racing team looked like emerging as the winners, until Seppänen took first place on lap 22 and Arthur Rougier snatched second place on his 27th lap, meaning the #22 Porsche 911 GT3 R had to settle for third place. Behind them, Christopher Mies (32/Düsseldorf) and Tim Zimmermann (25/Langenargen) from the Montaplast by Land-Motorsport team were fourth in the best-placed Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Jack Aitken (26/GB) and Albert Costa Balboa (32/E) guided another Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo to fifth place for Emil Frey Racing. Once again, the second practice session at the 4.259-kilometre circuit on the North Sea coast showed just how evenly matched the German GT Championship is. All the cars were within just 0.7 seconds of each other.