Maro Engel and Lucas Auer began their Sprint Cup title defence in perfect fashion by topping this morning's Free Practice at Brands Hatch.
The #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG hit the front during the second half of the one-hour session thanks to a 1m23.145s from Engel, who pipped the impressive Thierry Vermeulen (#69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari) to top spot by just 0.033s. Vermeulen was the best of the Gold Cup runners in the car he shares with Chris Lulham.
Sandy Mitchell placed third in the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, producing an encouraging start for the British squad ahead of its home event. The #63 Grasser Racing Lamborghini and the #32 Team WRT BMW completed the top five and are both likely to figure at the front this weekend.
The #58 Garage 59 McLaren was sixth overall and second among the Gold Cup runners, followed by the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi which topped the Silver Cup order in the hands of Ezequiel Perez Companc. Rutronik Racing (#96 Porsche), Saintéloc Racing (#25 Audi) and Boutsen VDS (#10 Mercedes-AMG) completed the top 10 overall.
The session was red flagged just before the 40-minute mark when Kobe Pauwels beached the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin at Paddock Hill Bend, causing a stoppage of around five minutes. Later, Lorens Lecetrua spun and made contact with the barriers at Westfields, though the #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi was able to continue back to the pits for repairs.
Cars will be back on-track at 12:15 for Pre-Qualifying, which like Free Practice runs for one hour. Qualifying follows at 15:45, setting the grids for both of tomorrow's race. Live coverage of every session will be shown on the GT World YouTube channel.