Ellis Mercedes leads Friday practice at the beginning of the GT3 era

The new GT3 era of the DTM began on Friday with two 45-minute training sessions on the Italian Formula 1 site.

Last year’s runner-up Nico Muller set the early pace in FP1 in the Rosberg team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 with a time of 1: 47.91, before Red Bull F1-Reserve Albon set the pace with 1: 47.646 minutes on board his AF Corse race Ferrari 488 GT3 took the lead.

Liam Lawson then lapped the track in the sister Ferrari just 0.024 seconds behind him to help Red Bull a one-two, while Muller stayed third.

Test pacesetter Maximilian Götz managed to find more time in the middle of the session and was just ahead of Albon with a time of 1: 47.624 minutes in the HRT-Mercedes.

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Götz’s lap was not beaten until the afternoon’s second practice session when GT Masters regular Ellis – who skipped FP1 together with Winward Mercedes team-mate Lucas Auer – achieved a time of 1: 47.617 minutes on his first real plane.

There were no further improvements to the top of the field in FP2 as Ellis, Gotz, Albon and Lawson made up the combined top 4 – the quartet separated by just 0.071 seconds.

Alex Albon, AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo

Photo: Alexander Trienitz

Team Abt Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde set the third fastest time in the afternoon, 0.331 seconds behind Ellis, while Arjun Maini was fourth in the GetSpeed ​​Mercedes.

However, the Indian racing driver is being examined after the right rear wheel of his Mercedes-AMG GT3 came loose in the pit lane while overtaking a Walkenhorst mechanic who was rolling Marco Wittmann’s BMW into the garage.

The loose wheel bounced over the fast lane and then back before stopping. Maini parked the car at the end of the pit lane.

Wittmann, whose mechanic avoided the out-of-control tire, finished FP2 just behind Maini in fifth place with a time of 1: 48.247 minutes, while Sheldon van der Linde in the Rowe Racing BMW was sixth.

Esteban Muth was seventh fastest in the leading Lamborghini Huracan from J3 Motorsport, while Auer was eighth almost a second behind his team-mate. The top 10 was completed by Mike Rockenfeller (Abt) and Maximilian Buhk from 2013, who represented Gary Paffett in the Mucke Mercedes team during the Briton’s Formula E race.

After running near the top in FP1, Albon and Lawson backed up the timesheets in the afternoon and ended up in 17th and 18th place in their respective Ferraris.

DTM returnees Daniel Jucandella, who was sixth fastest in the morning for GruppeM Mercedes, did not take part in FP2 later that day.

Results of FP1:

FP2 results: