Even though sweltering high temperatures made the drivers' life on the opening day of action on Circuit Zolder not easy, their performances did not suffer much. At the end of the day, it was Norbert Siedler in the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari who set the fastest time of the day, lapping in 1'30.920. Marko Asmer, fastest of the Pro-Am drivers, was second overall with the #71 GT Russian Team Mercedes, less than two tenths off the Ferrari. Local hero Laurens Vanthoor was in third, in the newly decorated #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8.
With the mercury climbing past the 36°C mark - track and cockpit temperatures were nearing 50°C - conditions were not ideal to set the quickest of lap times. Still, the times in the second free practice were slightly quicker than the ones in the first. The driver at the top of the standings changed several times, with newcomer Tom Dillmann (#83 Bentley Team HTP), Marko Asmer (#71 GT Russian Team Mercedes), Laurens Vanthoor (#1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8), Asmer again and eventually Norbert Siedler in the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari taking top spot. That made for three different cars in the top-3 at the end of the session. With Asmer topping Pro-Am, the best time in Silver Cup went again to the Fjordbach brothers in the #74 ISR Audi, narrowly beating the #83 Bentley Team HTP.
Qualifying for the Belgian round of the Blancpain Sprint Series starts tomorrow at 9.15, with the Qualifying Race starting at 14.45.