+ Result: Free Practice, Hockenheim
Wimmer Werk Motorsport put a Porsche out front on home ground in Free Practice at Hockenheim, with Nicolaj Møller-Madsen leading the way in the #91 718 Cayman RS CS GT4.
The Dane emerged out front from a close first session, pulling 0.025s clear inside the final few minutes to secure the result ahead of the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG and #81 RAFA Racing McLaren, as three different brands filled the top spots.
Antoine Leclerc led the early stages as the 51-strong field filtered onto track for their first laps, putting the Code Racing Alpine ahead before being beaten by Herolind Nuredini’s Allied-Racing Porsche.
The RAFA Racing Team has been making steady progress toward the front in recent rounds, and Cameron Lawrence again showed the cars are ones to watch by going fastest in the #81 Artura. His best time stood for much of the session until Lluc Ibañez managed to find a few extra tenths in the #15 Mercedes-AMG before handing across to Alex Papadopulos for the final minutes. It was then that Møller-Madsen struck, stringing together a great lap to edge the Wimmer Werk Porsche ahead.
It was a strong session for the whole Wimmer Werk team, with Nick Maloy and Emil Heyerdahl’s #92 car finishing fourth, ahead of Tom Emson/Alex Denning’s Elite Motorsport McLaren. Nuredini and team-mate Leo Pichler completed the top six for Allied-Racing.
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While RAFA’s Silver entry just missed top spot, its Pro-Am car scooped the fastest time in Pro-Am, thanks to Jon Lancaster. It looked for a long time like the new W&S Motorsport entry of Alon Gabbay and Tano Neumann would take the honours until Lancaster set his best late in the session. The class title-chasing car of Finn Zulauf and Max Kronberg was right behind in third.
Despite being a brand-new entry to the team for this weekend, Charles Dawson wasted little time in settling in to the #16 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG alongside Andy Cantu, setting the early benchmark in the AM class.
The GPA Racing Aston Martin shared by Florent Grizaud and Kevin Jimenez led the class early on before the points-leading Schumacher CLRT Alpine of Pascal Huteau and Laurent Hurgon assumed its usual place at the top. But Dawson went out for one last late run and managed to put the Mercedes-AMG ahead by just under 0.2s. The returning Adrien Paviot and Nicolas Markiewicz were fourth fastest, showing they’ve lost none of their podium potential in the Team Speedcar Audi.
Pre-Qualifying at Hockenheim is scheduled to begin at 13:50 local time.
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