Championship leader Michael Ammermüller stated his intent for the weekend ahead as he topped the practice session for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race at the German Grand Prix.
The BWT Lechner Racing driver lapped the 4.574 kilometre circuit in 1:41.907 ahead of Silverstone winner Florian Latorre and Austria winner Thomas Preining.
“Free practice went well for me.” said Ammermüller. “I was among the top drivers from the start, and at the end of the day I was in first place.”
While the practice puts them in a good place for the weekend ahead, rain could disrupt the proceedings this weekend.
“We’re perfectly primed for dry conditions but it might be raining tomorrow. Then everything we did today would be futile” added Ammermüller.
Credit: Porsche
Despite finishing second fastest Latorre was unhappy with his practice session, “At the beginning my car was oversteering badly because we always have to drive with older tyres on Fridays. I couldn’t build momentum.” said the Frenchman.
Thomas Preining was confident after the session, adding “The car was very good and we got off to a strong start in free practice. We tried a couple of things in between, and we’ll try to wrap up the pole tomorrow”
The ever improving Zaid Ashkanani put in a strong performance to finish in fourth place, ahead of Larry ten Voorde who set the pace for the early stages of the session.
As seen in previous races it is a close race weekend, the top twelve drivers are covered but just one second, meaning everyone needs to be on their game for qualifying as one small mistake could see a big difference in grid position.
A number of drivers struggled in the hear with the tyres degrading including Dylan Pereira who ran through a gravel trap and Jaap van Lagen who put on an impressive display of drifting.
“The temperature was the problem, it was very hot. The tyres degrade very quickly after a few laps, and then it’s slippery, that was the reason,” said the Dutchman.
Credit: Porsche
In the Pro-Am category it was once again Roar Lindland topping the timesheets, and while it may not surprise some, the Norwegian was amazed by his own pace.
“To be honest I was surprised with my best time, I last drove here in 2016. But it was incredibly fun because I found my rhythm midway through the session,” said Lindland.
Nicolas Misslin and Philipp Sager rounded out the top three in the Pro-Am class.
Glenn Van Parijs takes over the entry of Yuey Tan this weekend, who was unable to make the race due to personal reason, “I had great fun here in the Supercup. I wasn’t interested in my times, I only focused on my own performance,” said Van Parijs.
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