Motorsport 98 headed a Mercedes-AMG one-two in Pre-Qualifying for the opening Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli event at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Eric De Doncker and Loris Hezemans put the #98 car on top with a lap time of 2m04.999s, good enough to beat the similar Mercedes-AMG of Akkodis ASP’s Benjamin Ricci and Mauro Ricci by a mere 0.117s.
Behind them was the first KTM X-BOW in the hands of Reinhard Kofler and Martin Koch. In an incredibly tight contest, the Team MZR entry was 0.275s adrift, while morning pace-setters LP Racing were just a further tenth behind with Leonardo Gorini and Carlo Tamburini in the #1 Maserati GT2.
Gilles Vannelet and Jean-Luc Beaubelique topped the Am class, the Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG pairing rounding out the overall top five ahead of the RTR Projects KTM X-Bow piloted by Jan Krabec and Matej Homola this weekend.
Razoon - More Than Racing followed closely in its KTM, Dominik Olbert and and Denis Liebl finishing second in the Am class times ahead of Alexandre Leroy's Maserati GT2 for series newcomers, TFT Racing.
Qualifying kicks off at 17:30 this afternoon to set the grid for Saturday’s two season-opening Fanatec GT2 races.