- Inaugural season of Fanatec GT2 European Series officially gets underway in Italy.
- Anders Fjordbach & Mark Patterson head up the timesheets in opening Monza session.
- Strong showing from KTM, with four X-BOW GT2 entries in the top five.
High Class Racing’s #33 Audi R8 LMS in the hands of Anders Fjordbach and Mark Patterson set the pace during the inaugural Fanatec GT2 European Series practice session at Monza this morning (16 April).
Although they managed 20 laps apiece, 0.6 seconds separated Fjordbach’s benchmark time of 1:49.529s from the second-placed True Racing by Reiter Engineering #23 KTM X-BOW in the hands of Peter Kox and Rupert Atzberger.
It’s still anybody’s guess as to which of the four manufacturers present on the grid for the inaugural event – Audi, Porsche, KTM and Lamborghini – will be fastest out of the blocks, but KTM will be satisfied as their cars locked out the remainder of the top five.
The first of those was third-fastest Christoph Ulrich and Adrian Spescha, a further half-second back from Kox/Atzberger in the #7 Sportec Motorsport KTM X-BOW, but leading the way in the Am-class battle.
The #17 shared by Hubert Trunkenpolz and Klaus Angerhofer was fourth, with the sister #16 True Racing by Reiter Engineering machine of Sedhi Sarmini and Stefan Rosina fifth.
Joseph Collado clocked the quickest time, one tenth further back, for the #44 Lamborghini Huracan GT2 he shares with Patrick Zampirini as SVC Sport Management led the line for the Italian brand on home soil.
They were just 0.003 seconds in turn quicker than the #5 Speed Factory Racing Porsche 911 GT2 RS of Michael Vergers and Aurelijus Rusteika, with the other Lamborghini Huracan – Toro Verde GT’s #9 entry – taking eighth in the hands of Jordan Witt and David Fairbrother.
LP Racing’s #88 Audi R8 LMS shared by Luca Pirri and Stéphane Ratel was ninth, the top ten completed by the final of True Racing by Reiter Engineering’s KTM X-BOW entries, this time for Kris Rosenberger alongside double Le Mans 24 Hours winner Hans-Joachim Stuck.
Belgian pairing Bert Longin and Peter Guelinckx were 11th in the #81 PK Carsport by Heinz-run Audi R8 LMS, with the invitational Ferrari Challenge 488 entry from CMR for Alexis Berthet and Patrick Michalier rounding out the field.
The weekend continues with the second free practice session at 12:15 (CET).