Michael Doppelmayr and Pierre Kaffer continued to set the pace at Spa-Francorchamps by topping Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli Pre-Qualifying on Thursday.
The LP Racing crew lapped just 0.045s slower than their fastest time from Free Practice, and an effort of 2:18.146s was enough for them to complete a sweep of the day’s on-track action in the #18 Audi R8 LMS GT2.
Closest to stopping them were Reinhard Kofler and Martin Koch, who finished 0.565s shy in the #812 Team MZR entry. Fellow KTM X-BOW GT2 outfit Razoon - More Than Racing was just over a tenth further back on a competitive day for the #80 pairing of Simon Birch and Thomas Andersen.
LP Racing’s Philippe Prette was fourth overall and fastest of the Am class runners in the #2 Maserati GT2, as he was in the morning session. Prette pipped the similar TFT Racing machine of Alexandre Leroy by a mere 0.183s.
Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Gilles Vannelet were best of the Mercedes-AMG GT2 entrants in sixth for the #87 Akkodis ASP car, ahead of the #89 RTR Projects KTM shared by Petr Lisa and Matej Homola – the crew bouncing back from a tough morning session with the seventh fastest time in the afternoon.
Pre-Qualifying marked the first GT2 laps for Lorenzo Patrese in the #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi. The son of ex-Formula One driver Riccardo Patrese will also compete in this weekend’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, and ended the second GT2 session eighth alongside Germany’s Andrey Mukovoz.
Dominik Olbert and Denis Liebl were ninth to ensure both Razoon - More Than Racing KTMs finished inside the top 10, which was rounded out by the second LP Racing Audi of Alfio Andrea Spina and Stefano Costantini.
Fanatec GT2 teams now turn their focus to a busy Friday, featuring Qualifying from 10:15 and the first race at 14:45. Both will be streamed live via the GT World YouTube channel in English, French, German and Italian commentaries.