Championship contenders Laurents Hörr and Francois Kirmann in the no3 DKR Engineering Norma set the fastest time in the first Free Practice session of the weekend in Portugal, finishing the red flag shortened session two tenths ahead of championship leaders Michael Benham and Duncan Tappy in the no25 Lanan Racing Norma.
The session was halted by a red flag with fourteen minutes remaining of the sixty minute practice period due to urgent track repairs that needed to be carried out. The session was not resumed to allow the repairs to be carried out.
The no3 Norma’s time of 1m41.438 was the benchmark for the session. The no14 RLR M Sport Ligier of Rob Wheldon and Alex Kapadia was third quickest, 0.330s behind the lead car and 0.035s ahead of the no55 Spirit of Race Ligier of Claudio Sdanewitsch and Michele Rugolo.
The GT3 grid was headed by the no54 SPS AutomotivePerformance Mercedes of Dexter Müller and Yannick Mettler with a 1m43.549 lap of the 4.6km track. Championship leaders Giacomo Piccini and Sergio Pianezzola were second fastest in the no8 Kessel Racing Ferrari with a 1m44.454, nine tenths behind the leading Mercedes and 0.247s ahead of the no60 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
Championship contenders Luzich Racing finished the session 5th in GT3 behind the no99 Beechdean AMR Vantage, 0.7 seconds behind the no8 Ferrari.
The final Free Practice session of the 2019 season will take place at 10h20 tomorrow morning, with the cars back on track at 16h15 this afternoon for the Bronze Driver Collective Test session.
CLICK HERE for the results from Free Practice 1
