Teams and drivers taking part in the Official Test Day for the 2015 Total 24 Hours of Spa were greeted by a dry Francorchamps track and even some sunshine later in the day. Ideal conditions therefore to prepare for the hardest and longest race of the season. While the morning session was marred by a couple of red flag interruptions, the five hours in the afternoon were only briefly interrupted once, giving the teams plenty of track time on the Ardennes circuit.
The fastest time of the day was set by the #45 BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS Z4, lapping in 2'19.034 during the morning session. In the afternoon the silver and yellow BMW topped the timesheets as well, with an almost identical 2'19.083. Blancpain Endurance Series regulars Grasser Racing Team managed to separate the two Marc VDS-cars, producing a 2'19.143 with the #63 Lamborghini. That proved to be two tenths of a second quicker than the best lap from the #46 car of the BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS.
The fastest time in Pro-Am was set by the #47 AF Corse Ferrari of newcomers Lémeret, Pier Guidi, Bruni and Lathouras - lapping in 2'19.549 - while the fastest Am Cup car was the #25 Glorax Racing Ferrari, last weekend's winner of the Am Cup at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Bas Leinders (team principal BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS): "It has been a fruitful day. We managed to complete a good number of laps and we quickly found the right set-up for the cars. The fact that we took part in the race at Le Castellet really helped us to adapt to the Pirelli tyres and determine a good base set-up. This means that we can now focus on the race itself, which is one of our main targets for this season."
Bernd Schneider (GT Russian Team): "So far, so good. We have been struggling a bit to find the right balance of the car, but we managed to improved during the day. Today's test sessions again showed how competitive the current batch of GT3 cars are, but I am convinced that our older Mercedes SLS AMG can still fight for the top spots."
Steven Kane (Bentley Team M-Sport): "We have been trying to find the right endurance set-up, which means that the car is now a bit higher off the ground, to avoid damage when taking the kerbs. The Total 24 Hours of Spa is an important race and we would love to win it, but we will keep the championship in mind as well. A podium finish would be a great result."
Laurens Vanthoor (Audi Sport Team WRT): "It has been a difficult day. Because of the red flags in the morning I was unable to drive much, and we can't seem to find the ideal set-up for the car. It is a new car of course, which has never driven at Spa, and we still have a lot of work to do."
Christopher Mies (Audi Sport Team Phoenix): "We were P5 in the morning and P9 in the afternoon. That is not too bad, but we still have a lot of things to do with the new car. I think we are on the right way, though."
Stéphane Lémeret (AF Corse): "I am very happy with the competitiveness of the AF Corse Ferrari and of my team-mates. I really think we can have a go at the win in the Pro-Am Cup. Where that will bring us in the overall results depends on how strong and reliable the Pro Cup cars will be, but I am already looking forward to the last weekend of July."
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Practical information - Total 24 Hours of Spa
When: 21-26 July 2015
Tickets: from 15 €
General Entrance : 30 € (includes free entrance on Thursday and Friday)
General Entrance + paddock : 60 € (includes free entrance on Thursday and Friday)
VIP packages : from 180 €
Children aged 12 or under, accompanied by an adult, enter for free
Sales on : www.ticketmaster.be
Race Week
Tuesday July 21st
Bronze test 15:00 – 18:00
Wednesday July 22nd
Parade Spa 16:00
Autograph session 17:00-18 :00
Thursday July 23rd
Free Practice 12:00-13:30
Pre-Qualifying 18:10-19:10
Qualifying 20:30-21:45
Night Qualifying 22:15-23:45
Friday July 24th
Super Pole 15:30-15:55
Saturday July 25th
Warm Up 09:05-09:25
Starting procedure & Grid walk 15:45-16:30
Start of the Total 24 hours of Spa 16:30
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Information : www.24hoursofspa.com / www.blancpain-gt-series.com
Facebook : Total 24 hours of Spa / Twitter : @24hoursofspa / @blancpaingt
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