+ Result: Free Practice, Portimão
Jay Mo Härtling struck late on to help SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm to the top of the times in the opening GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli session at Portimão.
It had looked like the returning Antoine Potty had done enough to keep the i4Race Maserati out front, before Härtling took over from team-mate David Thilenius and made the most of clean air to pull 0.15s clear of the Belgian.
That denied Maserati what would have been a top three lockout, with Potty second ahead of Stefan Rosina and Niccolò Pirri in the #18 LP Racing car. Iron Dames drivers Sarah Bovy and Laura van den Hengel finished right behind in their SP Racing Maserati.
Marius Aigner and Reinhard Kofler were fifth in their MZR KTM ahead of Roberto Pampanini and Mauro Calamia in the DINAMIC Maserati. Lennart Marioneck and Viktor Mraz led the Masters battle in the RTR Projects KTM, but it was the team’s other entry that would deny any late improvements as Ondrej Rokos had to pull the #294 Mercedes-AMG to the side of the track with a technical issue. The stranded car summoned the red flags with just a few minutes remaining.
The session also had a stoppage midway through when Georgi Dimitrov had to stop the #27 CMR Lamborghini with a small fire, but the car and diver were both recovered safely.
Second practice is set for 09:00 on Saturday.