GT | Frijns takes Audi to top on first run

Robin Frijns of the Netherlands set the pace in the first of the GT cars onto the Guia Circuit yesterday early afternoon.

Frijns took the Audi R8 LMS from Audi Sport Team WRT to the best time of the session, clocking the best lap in 2:18.588.

Right behind Frijns placed another of the major favorites to win the final, the FIA GT World Cup reigning champion, Edoardo Mortara in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Team GruppeM Racing, which added only 0.129 of a second to the best time of Frijns. “Mr Macau” does not plan to give his title away easily.

In the bigger surprise of the day, German Christopher Haase managed to pull a rabbit out of his hat and score third best in another Audi R8 LMS, showing that the brand is well prepared and keen to regain the manufacturers’ title.

Fourth and fifth, were Brazil’s Augusto Farfus Jr (BMW M6 GT3) and Earl Bamber (Porsche 911 GT3 R) respectively, thus placing four different manufacturers in the top five finishers in yesterday’s Free Practice session.

If Haase performed the bigger surprise by scoring third best, maybe the second surprise, this time on the down side, was by Maro Engel. As a serious candidate to the title, Engel did not manage better than seventh, behind Laurens Vanthoor’s Porsche but then, at this level of competition and with so many star drivers and top brands, every microsecond can make the difference between scoring a podium or finishing in the middle of the field.

Keeping in mind that yesterday’s session was only the first practice session, any outcome is still possible.

More action from the GT cars will follow today at 12:30 p.m. for a 30-minute Free Practice session followed by a 30-minute qualifying session at 4:10 p.m.