GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS kicked off its Nürburgring event today (3 September) with more than three hours of official testing.
Rain hit the German venue during the day, though conditions are expected to improve considerably for Sunday's six-hour race. Four 50-minute sessions were run, each of which was led by a different car and driver combination.
Raffaele Marciello topped the first in the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG, circulating in 1m54.265s. This could not be beaten during the second session, which saw Dries Vanthoor on top in the #32 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT entry with a time of 1m55.693s.
An Audi was quickest again in the third run. Staged in considerably wetter conditions, this saw Matti Drudi go fastest in the #66 Attempto Racing car with a 2m10.907s lap. The final 50-minute session was led by Sandy Mitchell in the #77 Barwell Motorsports Lamborghini. The young Scottish driver posted a 1m56.023s in the British squad's car, which will compete for Pro-Am honours this weekend. Full session times can be viewed via the links at the bottom of this page.
Track activity continues with tomorrow's bronze test, which gets underway at 16.55. A busy Saturday begins with free practice at 09.00, followed at 13.35 by pre-qualifying. Competitors will then have a chance to study their data before the all-important qualifying session at 19.10. Six hours of racing will follow on Sunday, with the green flag set to fly at 11.45.
Further on-track action comes from a trio of regular support categories: Lamborghini Super Trofeo, GT4 European Series and Formula Renault Eurocup. Each will stage a pair of races over the course of the weekend, totalling almost five hours of competition to run alongside GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS.
As ever, extensive TV and live-streaming options will be available for fans to follow every second of the action. For the first time, this will include a German commentary feed provided in collaboration with NürburgringTV, which will run alongside the established English and French streams.
Grandstand tickets are available for the event in accordance with local health regulations and can be purchased here.