Jules Gounon put AKKA ASP on top in this morning's opening practice at the Nürburgring, leading the way in a very successful session for the Mercedes-AMG runners.
The French ace posted a 1m54.789s at the wheel of the #88 machine, while the Silver Cup and Pro-Am classifications were also led by the German marque. Nico Bastian was second overall in the #4 HRT Mercedes-AMG, 0.119s shy of Gounon, while Porsche squads Dinamic Motorsport and GPX Racing were next on the timing screen.
Jim Pla was fifth overall and top of the Pro-Am class in the #2 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG. The French ace – more familiar for his work at the wheel of AKKA ASP cars – was 0.441s shy of the benchmark. Class rival Dominik Baumann took sixth in yet another Mercedes-AMG, driving the #20 for SPS Automotive Performance.
The trend continued in the Silver Cup, where Swiss teenager Miklas Born was seventh overall and led his class in the #40 SPS car. In total Mercedes-AMG accounted for five of the overall top-10, with Porsche, BMW and McLaren also making their mark.
Kicking off at 08:30 CEST, the session ran in glorious sunshine and without any notable interruptions. All 44 cars entered for this weekend's race were on-track to fine-tune setups and run qualifying sims. Their next engagement will be pre-qualifying, which takes place at 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.