> RESULTS <
Start Time: 08:45
Finish Time: 10:15
*** Christopher Haase put Eastalent Racing on top in Free Practice 1 at Portimão. The German driver posted a 1m42.643s aboard the #84 Audi, edging the #32 Team WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde by just 0.004s.
*** Tresor Attempto Racing maintained its recent run of good form by placing third overall and P1 in the Gold Cup class. Alex Aka – who was part of the crew that earned a Sprint Cup victory at Barcelona – set a 1m42.686s in the #99 Audi.
*** In addition to Audi and BMW, the top 10 also included machinery from Mercedes-AMG, Aston Martin and Ferrari.
*** The best of the Astons was the #11 Comtoyou Racing entry, which topped the Bronze Cup class in seventh overall with Valentin Hasse-Clot at the wheel. The French driver is making his first GT World Challenge appearance of the season this weekend.
*** Team WRT topped the Silver Cup class with its #30 BMW, which has already wrapped up the Endurance title thanks to Amaury Cordeel, Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro. The latter set the time today, which was good enough for 10th overall.
*** FP1 marked the official GT World Challenge debut of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman placed 20th overall in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry, which he shares with Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat. He made light contact with the #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi during the busy opening laps, but otherwise ran without problems.
*** Verstappen is bidding to become the first driver to win overall in a car carrying his name since Sébastien Loeb did so at Navarra in 2013.
*** When the chequered flag was shown, the fastest 50 cars were covered by less than a second. The #4 Optimum Motorsport McLaren was 0.989s adrift of Haase's benchmark in P50 overall.
*** All 61 cars turned laps in FP1. There were no serious incidents – just a handful of spins – and no red flag stoppages.
NEXT UP: Free Practice 2 – Friday at 12:45 (GMT+1) – Live on GT World
