After setting up in the Zandvoort paddock two one-hour test sessions kicked off the Zandvoort weekend this afternoon. The participating teams were split into two groups and a maximum of 21 cars per group to avoid a congested track and give teams as much running time ahead of this weekend's two races.
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AKKA ASP was fastest in both sessions. Timothé Buret topped the first session in the in the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG that he shares with Paul Evrard. He was over half a second quicker than the #34 Selleslagh Racing Team Mercedes-AMG of Luca Bosco and Olivier Hart and the #22 Allied Racing Porsche of Joel Sturm and Nicolaj Møller-Madsen.
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The #87 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG of Jim Pla and Jean-Luc Beaubelique set the pace in the second session, with Pla lapping the 4.259 km track in 1m43.871s. The #74 CD Sport Mercedes-AMG of Jean-Ludovic Foubert and Hugo Chevalier was second, followed by the #8 CMR Toyota of Stephane Lémeret and Antoine Potty. Enzo Joulie and Sebastien Baud made it three Mercedes-AMG GT4s in the top four.
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The results of the two official paid test sessions can be found here and here.
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Zak Brown and Richard Dean were set to share the cockpit of a third United Autosports McLaren at Zandvoort this weekend, but those plans were put on hold following the death of long-time McLaren shareholder Mansour Ojjeh. Brown will instead be at Circuit Paul Ricard to commemorate Ojjeh at the French Grand Prix.
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Oliver Hart returns to the GT4 European Series this weekend. The young Dutchman joins Luca Bosco in the #34 Selleslagh Racing Team Mercedes-AMG at his home track. Hart last raced in the series in 2019, when he competed in four races in the V8 Racing Chevrolet Camaro. The #35 Selleslagh Racing Team Mercedes-AMG will not take part this weekend, resulting in a 39-car grid for the third round of the 2021 season.
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The chance of rain makes racing at Zandvoort exciting. While today was a warm day, with the temperature in the high twenties and the sun shining brightly, current weather forecasts for the coming days estimate a high chance of rain and thunderstorms on Friday and Sunday. In 2013 Zandvoort hosted the final round of the GT4 European Trophy. Torrential rain resulted in the final race of the season to be cancelled.
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Free Practice 1 will get underway at 17:20 CET. Live timing is available. Saturday evening's qualifying session and the two races will be streamed live on the website, SRO Motorsports Group's GT World YouTube channel and on the series' Facebook page.
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The official GT4 European Series Spotter Guide for Round 3 of the 2021 campaign is available here.