Weerts puts Belgian Audi Club Team WRT on top in opening Zandvoort practice

Weerts puts Belgian Audi Club Team WRT on top in opening Zandvoort practice

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT topped this morning's opening practice session at Zandvoort thanks to the championship-leading #32 crew of Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor. 

Weerts set the fastest time during the opening half of the 80-minute session, which was reserved for silver and bronze drivers. His best effort of 1m34.117s could not be beaten over the subsequent 40 minutes, which saw the full field take to the 4.2km Dutch circuit. 

The #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini was second, continuing its fine form from the previous Sprint Cup contest at Magny-Cours. Mikaël Grenier set the time, lapping 0.219s shy of Weerts' benchmark. 

Sainteloc Racing placed third with its #25 Audi. Arthur Rougier was quickest during the early stages of the session before being beaten by Weerts and Grenier, but the young Frenchman's effort was still good enough for a top-three position. The #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG was fourth thanks to Sprint Cup returnee Felipe Fraga, followed by the #31 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT machine of Ryuichiro Tomita. 

Sixth overall was the #66 Attempto Racing Audi, which led the Silver Cup class thanks to Nicolas Schöll. The top Pro-Am runner was the #52 AF Corse Ferrari, which placed 14th overall thanks to Louis Machiels. The full free practice result can be viewed via the link at the bottom of this page. 

All 22 cars were on-track for the session, which ran in dry conditions despite darks clouds above Zandvoort. However, rain is expected for this afternoon's pre-qualifying (13.50) and the evening qualifying run (17.50). The latter, as well as tomorrow's races, will be streamed live on the championship’s official website and Facebook pages, as well as the GT World YouTube channel.