RS1 Porsche Leads Pre-Qualifying Practice
The #28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R went fastest out of 22 cars in Pre-Qualifying practice. Porsche specialist Klaus Bachler was recruited by Rennsport One to assist full-time drivers Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer as they look to win the GT World Challenge America Pro class championship.
Thursday’s persistent rain gave way on Friday morning to cool weather and beautiful, sunny skies at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bachler, so far, has done exactly what has been asked of him, leading the way with the fastest time of 1:23.253 set early in the 90-minute practice session.
That time put him 44 milliseconds clear of the best time set by Ryan Dalziel in the #33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3. Triarsi Competizione was fastest in the Pro-Am class with their new Ferrari.
On the other hand, the other Ferrari 296 GT3 – the #21 Conquest Racing Ferrari – lost over 75 minutes behind the pit wall for repairs. Lilou Wadoux had trouble pulling out of the pit box on her out lap due to a launch control issue, and the Conquest Racing team “saw some data that they didn’t like” according to co-driver Alessandro Balzan.
Laurin Heinrich was third-fastest overall in the #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche, a car that has been very impressive in the Pro-Am ranks early on.
The two Team WRT BMW M4 GT3s rounded out the top-five overall and finished first and second in the IGTC Pro class; Maxime Martin in the #31 BMW was fourth, just ahead of Philipp Eng in fifth in the #30.
Mario Farnbacher was sixth-fastest aboard the #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3, followed by Christian Engelhart in the #85 Rearden Racing Porsche, Earl Bamber in the #4 Grove Racing Porsche, Bill Auberlen in the #94 BimmerWorld BMW, and Jan Heylen in the #45 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
Balzan would complete a handful of laps in the #21 Conquest Racing Ferrari towards the end of the session and finished 14th-fastest.
All 90 minutes were completed with no red flags or significant on-track incidents.
Qualifying begins at 3:35 PM ET (local time) with live coverage on the official SRO GT World YouTube channel.
Images © Fabian Lagunas / SRO Motorsports America
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