Vanthoor hits the front as Audi runners show impressive pace in FP2

Vanthoor hits the front as Audi runners show impressive pace in FP2

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT topped free practice 2 at the Nurburgring thanks to an impressive effort by Dries Vanthoor.

The youngster hustled the #1 Audi R8 LMS around the German track in 1m54.938s, almost half a second faster than his nearest challenger. Vanthoor remains an outside bet for the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe title heading into the penultimate round of the 2019 season.

It was not an entirely trouble-free session for the #1 car: Vanthoor's teammate, Ezequiel Perez Companc, caused the only red flag of the session when he went off at turn 17 during the final 15 minutes. Fortunately the car was undamaged and Vanthoor was able to return to the cockpit for the final few minutes of running.

Audi machinery locked out the top-three positions, with Christopher Hasse (#25 Sainteloc Racing) second and the #2 Belgian Audi Club effort of Christopher Mies third.

Maro Engel posted the fourth-best time in the #4 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG and was the best of the non-Audi runners in FP2. Engel and teammate Luca Stolz lead the standings with two rounds to run.

Jim Pla paced the Pro-Am class in his #87 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG. The French driver showed well in the overall classification, ending the session seventh and the leading AKKA ASP entry.

Silver Cup honours went to the #56 Attempto Racing Audi, which had Mattia Drudi on board for its best lap. The Italian driver was also competitive with the overall leaders, setting the ninth best time. The #111 Kessel Racing Ferrari once again led the Am Cup order, with Rory Penttinen lapping 1.3s quicker than the #444 HB Racing entry. 

27 cars set times during the session. The only absentee was the #62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin, which crashed during FP1 and was still undergoing repairs during the second 80-minute run.

Cars will be back on-track tomorrow morning at 09.15 for qualifying, while the weekend's opening race will get underway at 14.30. All of the action will be streamed live on the Blancpain GT Series website and across its social media channels. 

> FP2 Results