GT3 Europe

Graff Racing tops both Brno GT3 practice sessions

© DPPI

The Corvette Z06R GT3s dominated the first two sessions at the Brno circuit, round 2 of the FIA GT3 European Championship. Both sessions on the Czech circuit were interrupted by red flags multiple times, but this could not prevent the Corvettes from taking first place in both sessions.

In the first session the #16 Graff Racing Corvette of Joakim Lambotte and Mike Parisy was the best, setting a best lap time of 2:02.065. The #101 Callaway Competition Corvette of Christian Hohenadel and Daniel Keilwitz was second fastest, 0.017s behind the Graff car. Fischer Racing’s Mikko Eskelinen and Christoffer Nygaard finished the session in third place in their Ford GT.

Team Rosberg and Black Falcon had a real bad first session. The #3 Rosberg Audi and the #33 Black Falcon Audi spun off early after the start of the session, bringing out the red flag. Shortly after the restart the #2 Hexis AMR DBRS9 spun off as well, but it was all without much damage. A second red flag brought the session to an early end when the #4 Rosberg Audi and #32 Black Falcon Audi made contact between turn 3 and turn 4. The cars hit the Armco barrier, causing severe damage to both the barrier and the two Audi R8 LMS cars.

The second session was also interrupted by a red flag, but this time for two cars stopped on track. Fortunately for the organizers, teams and drivers there were no further incidents. At the end of the session the #16 Graff Racing Corvette was again at the top of the time sheets, setting a 2:02.225. The Chad Racing Ferrari F430 Scuderia of Petrobelli/Alessi was second fastest with Manu Rodrigues and Fred Makowiecki in the Hexis Aston Martin in third place. Corvettes took places four, five and six again.

Top 10 – Free Practice 1
1 16 GT3 Lambotte/Parisy Corvette Z06R GT3 2:02.065 21 0 0
2 101 GT3 Keilwitz/Hohenadel Corvette Z06R GT3 2:02.082 18 0.017 0
3 14 GT3 Eskelinen/Nygaard Ford GT 2:02.191 17 0.126 0
4 1 GT3 Rodrigues/Makowiecki Aston Martin DBRS9 2:02.251 16 0.186 0
5 61 GT3 van Splunteren/Holzer Porsche 911 GT3 R 2:02.384 16 0.319 0
6 60 GT3 Lappalainen/Palttala Porsche 911 GT3 R 2:02.652 16 0.587 0
7 4 GT3 Bonifacio/Ammermüller Audi R8 LMS 2:02.717 18 0.652 0
8 18 GT3 Seiler/Lunardi Corvette Z06R GT3 2:02.901 18 0.836 0
9 24 GT3 von Thurn und Taxis/Sanna Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 2:02.912 11 0.847 0
10 17 GT3 Vincent/Peyroles Corvette Z06R GT3 2:03.334 19 1.269 0

Top 10 – Free Practice 2
1 16 GT3 Lambotte/Parisy Corvette Z06R GT3 2:02.225 18 0 0
2 87 GT3 Petrobelli/Alessi Ferrari 430 Scuderia 2:02.365 17 0.14 0
3 1 GT3 Rodrigues/Makowiecki Aston Martin DBRS9 2:02.431 15 0.206 0
4 101 GT3 Keilwitz/Hohenadel Corvette Z06R GT3 2:02.554 17 0.329 0
5 18 GT3 Seiler/Lunardi Corvette Z06R GT3 2:02.744 20 0.519 0
6 17 GT3 Vincent/Peyroles Corvette Z06R GT3 2:03.410 19 1.185 0
7 12 GT3 Häring/Estre Porsche 911 GT3 R 2:03.512 21 1.287 0
8 61 GT3 van Splunteren/Holzer Porsche 911 GT3 R 2:03.571 23 1.346 0
9 25 GT3 Sanna/Geipel Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 2:03.970 19 1.745 0
10 2 GT3 Paillard/Accary Aston Martin DBRS9 2:03.971 16 1.746 0