Stefan Rosina and Bronek Formanek were early pace-setters for Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra in a hotly-contested Free Practice at Zandvoort, as the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli kicked off its maiden visit to the Netherlands on Friday morning (16 May).
The Czech squad came into the second meeting of the season topping the Pro-Am standings after an impressive double win on their debut at Circuit Paul Ricard last month, but left it late to prove their point in the first 60-minute session of the weekend.
A final-lap flyer of 1:37.917s from Rosina was enough to propel the #11 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO GT2 to the top of the times in Free Practice, but not without pressure as just over three tenths of a second covered the leading trio.
Closest to them was the #7 Maserati GT2 of DINAMIC Motorsport. Mauro Calamia headed the way for much of the second half of the session along with team-mate Roberto Pampanini, but finished just 0.192s adrift after they were bumped to second spot. RTR Projects sat close behind, Mato Homola and Laura Kraihamer’s #89 KTM X-Bow GT2 a further tenth shy.
Fourth place was best of the Am class runners, Philippe Prette (#1 LP Racing Maserati) preventing a Pro-Am sweep of the top four positions. The reigning Am class champion was followed by NM Racing Team’s Nil Montserrat and Alberto De Martin in the #115 Mercedes-AMG GT2, ahead of another Silver Arrows representative - Petr Lisa and Ondrej Rokos sixth for RTR Projects.
The #53 Mercedes-AMG of Akkodis ASP was seventh in the hands of Christophe Bourret and Pascal Gibon, with Oliver Freymuth rounding out the top eight for AKF Motorsport (#24 Lamborghini).
With times tight at the top, focus for GT2 Europe’s competitors shifts to Pre-Qualifying which kicks off from 14:00 CEST.