AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors topped Thursday's pre-event test session at Circuit Ricardo Tormo Valencia. Thomas Neubauer set a 1n32.487s aboard the #50 Ferrari, headlining a very successful day for the Italian brand.
Mercedes-AMG also started well, with Maro Engel second fastest overall in the #48 Winward Racing entry and Maxime Martin third in the #9 Boutsen VDS car. Engel was just 0.024s off Neubauer's benchmark, while only 0.005s separated the two AMG drivers.
The #69 Emil Frey Ferrari was fourth in the hands of Thierry Vermeulen, who also topped the Gold Cup class. Fifth place went to the Silver Cup leader – and the only non-Ferrari to lead a class – with the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Alex Aka leading the way. The #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG was sixth with Cesar Gazeau at the wheel.
Eddie Cheever made it three Ferrari class leaders out of four by leading the Bronze Cup in his #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta entry. The Italian driver was seventh overall, followed by another 296 from AF Corse driven by Jef Machiels. The main title contenders – the #59 Garage 59 McLaren and the #32 Team WRT BMW – were ninth and tenth respectively.
All 39 cars entered for this weekend's Sprint Cup final were on-track during the session. There were two red flags: the first was caused by the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin stopping with technical problems, while the second was necessary to carry out track repairs at Turn 4.
Cars will be back out tomorrow at 09:40 for Free Practice, followed by Pre-Qualifying at 15:00. The Sprint Cup season will conclude with races on Saturday (14:15) and Sunday (14:45), both of which will air live on the GT World YouTube channel.
TIMETABLE (CEST)
FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER
Free Practice: 09:40–11:20
Pre-Qualifying: 15:00–16:00
SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER
Qualifying 1: 09:00–09:25 LIVE TV
Race 1: 14:15–15:15 LIVE TV
SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER
Qualifying 2: 09:00–09:25 LIVE TV
Race 2: 14:45–15:45 LIVE TV