Kessel Racing paced Thursday's pre-event test session at Magny-Cours. Pro driver Dennis Marschall posted a 1m36.668s at the wheel of the #74 Ferrari, maintaining the Bronze Cup squad's impressive run of recent form.
A late flyer from Luca Stolz elevated the #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG to second overall, 0.076s away from the pace-setting Ferrari. Ezequiel Perez Companc was third quickest in the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi, 0.153s down on Marschall's benchmark and fastest of all in the Silver Cup.
Mateo Villagomez produced his most eye-catching single-lap performance yet by placing fourth aboard the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin. The Ecuadorian was followed by a pair of Ferrari drivers – Eddie Cheever (#93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta) and Marcos Siebert (#52 AF Corse Francorchamps Motors) – who compete in Bronze and Silver respectively.
Another of the Silver Cup front-runners placed seventh overall, with Jamie Day showing well in the #21 Comtoyou Racing entry. The top 10 was completed by Patric Niederhauser (#96 Rutronik Racing Porsche), Luca Engstler (#63 Grasser Racing Lamborghini) and Jake Dennis (#991 Paradine Competition BMW). The latter is a late addition to the entry list in place of Dan Harper.
Seven brands were represented in the top 10, while less than a second covered the fastest 25 cars. Just one of this weekend's runners did not participate in the three-hour session, with the #64 HRT Ford Performance entry remaining in the garage.
The session was stopped twice. The first red flag was displayed around the 90-minute mark when the #19 Grasser Racing Lamborghini stopped on the circuit; the second was required when the #777 AlManar Racing by WRT BMW lost a wheel, bringing proceedings to an end seven minutes early.
Cars will be back on-track tomorrow (Friday) at 13:15 CEST for Free Practice, which is followed at 20:45 by Pre-Qualifying.