Mercedes-AMG swept the top four positions in free practice at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where SPS Automotive Performance emerged quickest of all with its Pro-Am contender.
The #20 car went to the top of the times with Dominik Baumann at the wheel, the Austrian driver posting a 1m45.468s. This was enough to edge out Felipe Fraga in the title-contending #88 AKKA ASP machine by 0.136s. Simon Gachet was third in the sister #87, heading the Silver Cup order in the process, while class rival Marvin Dienst rounded out the quartet of AMG GT3s in the #7 Toksport WRT entry.
The German marque's dominance was broken by a pair of Emil Frey Racing machines. The #114 Lamborghini went fifth with Arthur Rougier at the wheel, narrowly beating Giacomo Altoè in the #163, while Dinamic Motorsport was seventh with its #54 Porsche. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG was next, putting the American squad third in the Silver Cup class courtesy of Mikaël Grenier.
Audi was also represented in the top-10 thanks to the #32 Team WRT machine, which was ninth in the hands of Dries Vanthoor. Fellow championship contenders Orange1 FFF Racing (#63 Lamborghini) and Iron Lynx (#51 Ferrari) were 15th and 30th respectively. The invitational entries from Audi and BMW both logged laps during the session, the #26 R8 LMS GT3 Evo II finishing 20th with Finlay Hutchison at the wheel, while Augusto Farfus was 29th fastest in the new M4 GT3. Both cars will be considered invisible in this weekend's result.
Competitors will be back on-track for Pre-Qualifying at 13:40, giving them another 90 minutes of running at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. There’s virtual competition too as the Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series stages its final race of 2021 at 18:20. Sunday kicks off at 09:00 with Qualifying, followed by the deciding three-hour Endurance Cup race at 15:00. All of the action will be streamed live on the official series website and social media platforms, as well as the GTWorld and GTWorld Français YouTube channels.