The Nürburgring weekend is officially underway following the completion of this afternoon's Bronze Test at the German venue.
Kicking off at 16:50, the traditional Friday session saw cars on-track for 60 minutes of preparatory running. It was red flagged before the 20-minute mark when the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari spun into the gravel at turn 8, though this would prove to be the only stoppage during the hour.
Eleven of the 12 cars eligible to take part were involved. The exception was the #10 Boutsen Ginion BMW, which encountered problems during the earlier official testing sessions. Sky Tempesta Racing emerged quickest with its #93 Ferrari thanks to a late 1m56.007s from Jonathan Hui. GetSpeed was second with its #2 Mercedes-AMG, 0.502s shy of the benchmark, followed by Orange1 FFF Racing (#19 Lamborghini), AF Corse (#52 Ferrari) and RAM Racing (#69 Mercedes-AMG).
The Bronze Test was preceded by a pair of one-hour runs. The first began at 08:30 and saw Raffaele Marciello emerge quickest at the wheel of the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG with a 1m54.890s. GPX Racing took second with its #22 Porsche, followed by the #32 Team WRT Audi and the #63 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini.
The second session ran from 12:40 and was also topped by a Mercedes-AMG. On this occasion it was the #7 Toksport WRT entry, which showed impressive speed with Colombian ace Oscar Tunjo at the wheel. His best effort of 1m55.280s was marginally better than Maro Engel (#4 HRT Mercedes-AMG) and Felipe Fraga in the #88 AKKA ASP machine.
There have been a handful of final amendments to the entry list for this weekend's event. Notably, Silver Cup title contender Patrick Kujala has re-joined the #33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari crew alongside Benja Hites and David Perel after helping Madpanda Motorsport to class victory at the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa.
Aston Martin factory ace Maxime Martin will drive for Oman Racing following the withdrawal of Charlie Eastwood from the #97 crew. Stéphane Tribaudini returns in the #107 CMR Bentley, while Luca Ghiotto makes his belated series debut in place of Jack Aitken at the wheel of Emil Frey Racing's #114 Lamborghini.
Saturday signals the start of live coverage from the Nürburgring, kicking off at 08:30 CEST with Free Practice. This is followed by Pre-Qualifying (12:55), while the main action takes place on Sunday. Qualifying gets underway at 08.30 and the all-important three-hour Endurance Cup contest goes green at 14:45.
The event will also feature the penultimate round of the inaugural Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series campaign. The 60-minute Assetto Corsa Competizione race forms part of a packed Saturday, with qualifying set for 18:10 and the race following at 18:45. As ever, the action will take place on-site at the Fanatec Esports Arena.
All of the competitive action will be streamed live on the official series websites and social media platforms, as well as the GTWorld and GTWorld Français YouTube channels.