There was an early start for the Prototype Cup Germany at the Nürburgring, where the first free practice session took place on Friday morning. David (22/Salzburg) and Ralf Schumacher (49/Salzburg, both US Racing) were the best of the early-risers, ending the 55-minute session at the top of the timing sheet. Julien Apothéloz (23/CHE) and Riccardi Leone Cirelli (16/ITA, both BWT Mücke Motorsport) were second, 0.567 seconds back, followed by Klaus Abbelen (63/Barweiler) and Felipe Laser (36/Leipzig, both Frikadelli Racing Team).
Ralf and David Schumacher’s father-son outing began with the best possible result. The duo could be found at the top of the timings for long stretches of the session, and actually led the rest of the field by roughly a second at times. “It was a good free practice. Our lap times were good and we felt comfortable in the car,” said David Schumacher. And yet he was keen not to read too much into this first place: “Firstly, we don’t know whether the opposition played their best cards. Secondly, it is only a free practice session. We must now make sure we have a similar result in this evening’s qualifying.”
David Schumacher’s appraisal of his rivals’ performance in FP1 was backed up by Markus Pommer (33/Untereisesheim), who was fifth fastest alongside team-mate Valentino Catalano (18/Westheim, both Gebhardt Motorsport), behind Keanu Al Azhari (16/UAE, Mühlner Motorsport). “It was a decent practice for us, when you consider that we were on old tyres. It is important to me that we were able to set consistent lap times and that the car made a good impression.”
Just one place behind reigning champion Pommer was Stefan Aust (52/Münster, Rinaldi Racing), who is making his Prototype Cup Germany debut at the Nürburgring. He actually drives together with Felipe Laser in the Le Mans Cup, but will this weekend be among those out to beat Laser, who took victory in Hockenheim. “I think the Prototype Cup is a nice series, which is why I decided to take part.” Aust brought along his own Ligier, which is run by the Rinaldi Racing team. “I am very happy so far: the event is nice and the team is doing a great job. I am also satisfied with my performance, as I have improved since yesterday’s test day.”
Rounding out the top eight behind Aust were Danny Soufi (21/USA) / Torsten Kratz (53/Mönchengladbach, both Konrad Motorsport), and Luca Link (20/Günzberg) / Suellio Almeida (30/BRA, both DataLab Sports with Rinaldi).
