Finn Wiebelhaus (19/Obertshausen/Haupt Racing Team) set the top time in both of Friday’s practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring. The championship leader in the ADAC GT Masters led the way with a time of 1:29.559 minutes in his Ford Mustang GT3. “That was a good start to the weekend, and something we want to build on. It was good to have a dry session in the afternoon, to see how our car is running,” said Wiebelhaus. “It looks like it is going to be a typical autumnal weekend, with cooler and changeable conditions. Our fastest two times were in the dry, but I am still optimistic that we will also be good in the rain. We have made a bit of progress with the set-up, and the driver also has more influence in the wet.”
In largely sunny conditions and with temperatures around 18 degrees in the afternoon, Jannes Fittje (26/Langenhain/SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm) was second fastest. The Mercedes driver was 0.117 seconds slower than Wiebelhaus. Third place went to another Mustang driver in Niklas Kalus (20/Duisburg/Haupt Racing Team). Leyton Fourie (19/RSA/FK Performance Motorsport), who lies second in the championship, ended the session in fourth place in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo, ahead of his team-mate Julian Hanses (28/Hilden), who completed the top five.
The morning session was dominated by recurring showers and a track that was wet for the main part. BMW driver Sandro Holzem (21/Polch/Schubert Motorsport) clocked the fastest time of 1:33.238 minutes. “The conditions were difficult, so we went straight out on slicks and tried to get some heat in the tyres,” said Holzem. “I already knew from last year that these conditions suit me, particularly here, and so I was very confident. We are expecting a lot of rain, particularly in Sunday’s race, and feel well prepared for these conditions, even if we are perhaps a bit stronger in the dry.”
The first qualifying session for the ADAC GT Masters field takes place at 08:35 on Saturday morning and will be streamed live at youtube.com/ADACMotorsports. The one-hour sprint race begins at 15:05 and will be broadcast live on sport1.de, Joyn, ServusTV ON and youtube.com.
