Maximilian Götz (Haupt Racing Team) could hardly have made a better start to his first outing of the season in the ADAC GT Masters: the man from Uffenheim set the fastest lap time of the day in his Mercedes-AMG GT3, stopping the clock at the Norisring on 0:49.671 minutes. Alain Valente (CH/Haupt Racing Team) and Jaxon Evans (NZ/Huber Racing) rounded out the top three.
With Nuremberg basking in temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius under a bright blue sky, the teams set to work preparing their super sports cars from premium manufacturers Audi, BMW, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Porsche for round two of this season’s ADAC GT Masters in two free practice sessions. Götz, who lives not far away from Nuremberg in Middle Franconia, was the fastest man in the afternoon. “After FP1, which we ended in eighth place, we made big improvements to the car. It is definitely an advantage that I know the circuit. However, the other drivers have also taken a big step forward. The opposition is not sleeping here. Tomorrow’s qualifying will be a really close affair,” said the 2012 ADAC GT Masters champion, looking ahead to Saturday. Götz has very special memories of the 2.3-kilometre street circuit in Nuremberg: “I have been coming to the Norisring since 1994 and used to collect autographs here as a kid. Now I get to sign stuff for the youngest fans myself. That is great. Plus, I won my DTM title here in 2021.”
Second place went to Valente (+0.065 seconds): the Mercedes-AMG driver slotted in behind Götz at the top of the timing sheet towards the end of the second session. Evans, winner of the opening race of the season, set the third-fastest time (+0.087 seconds) in a Porsche 911 GT3 R. His team-mate Tim Zimmermann (Langenargen) had previously set the fastest lap time of the morning’s session (0:50.229 minutes). The fourth fastest driver of the day was Nico Menzel (Kelberg/Huber Motorsport) with his best time of 0:49.759 minutes. Fifth place went to Marco Mapelli (I) of the GRT Grasser Racing Team in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 (+0.094 seconds).
Qualifying takes place at 09:00 on Saturday morning. The session can be followed in a livestream on the free YouTube channel @adacmotorsports. The eagerly awaited first ADAC GT Masters race at the Norisring for 15 years gets underway at 15:10. TV partner Sport1 is broadcasting the race action live to your living room.
