The Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry of Dani Juncadella and Chris Lulham rose to the top of the timesheets in the GTWC FP2 session at Brands Hatch during the opening race of the Sprint Cup.
Mercedes-AMG pair lead the way
Lapping the Grand Prix circuit in 1m22.932s, the duo set the benchmark in the final running before qualifying later in the day, which will determine the grid for the first of two Sprint Cup races on Sunday. Their best effort proved just over a tenth of a second quicker than the next car on the timesheets, which belonged to British driver Dean Macdonald and co-driver Marvin Kirchhofer in the Garage 59 McLaren.
Porsches close the gap
Less than three further hundredths back, the leading Porsche came in the shape of the Lionspeed GP entry of Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus. Another tenth covered the gap to the first of two more cars from the marque, both fielded by the Boutsen VDS stable. Gilles Magnus and Robin Knutsson proved the quicker of the two pairings in fourth, with Dorian Boccolacci and Morris Schuring rounding out the top five in the sister entry.
WRT and Ferrari pack the top ten
Having topped the earlier session, Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde continued their competitive showing by slotting into sixth, one place ahead of Konsta Lappalainen and Matteo Cairoli’s Emil Frey Racing Ferrari. Just behind, Matias Zagazeta and Tommaso Mosca delivered the best result of the weekend so far for an AF Corse Ferrari in eighth.
MotoGP icon Valentino Rossi and Max Hesse went ninth in their shared Team WRT BMW, while Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer completed the top 10 in another AF Corse entry.
GTWC Europe Brands Hatch FP2 results
- Juncadella/Lulham, Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, 1m22.932s
- Macdonald/Kirchhofer, Garage 59, McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, +0.105s
- Feller/Buus, Lionspeed GP, Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO, +0.134s
- Knutsson/Magnus, Boutsen VDS, Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO, +0.243s
- Boccolacci/Schuring, Boutsen VDS, Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO, +0.371s
- Weerts/Van Der Linde, Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3 EVO, +0.373s
- Lappalainen/Cairoli, Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, +0.410s
- Zagazeta/Mosca, AF Corse, Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, +0.425s
- Rossi/Hesse, Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3 EVO, +0.461s
- Leclerc/Neubauer, AF Corse, Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, +0.486s
