Competitors taking part in the Official Test Day for the 2018 Total 24 Hours of Spa were greeted by a sunny circuit, which provided the ideal conditions to prepare for the hardest and longest race of the Blancpain GT Series and Intercontinental GT Challenge. With several red flag interruptions during the morning session, the five-hour afternoon session was only briefly halted, giving teams plenty of track time at the Ardennes venue.
At the end of the morning session, the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8 topped the timesheets, lapping the 7km Belgian track just under a quarter of a second quicker than the #117 KÜS Team75 Bernhard Porsche.
After the lunch break teams and drivers were able to test their cars for a further five hours, with many opting to undertake long simulation runs. Slight cloud cover decreased the high temperatures, further improving testing conditions.
The 2:19.999 of the #2 Audi was slightly faster than it went during the morning, with the #991 Herberth Motorsport Porsche clocking a 2″19.833. The #23 GT Sport Motul Team RJN Nissan GT-R was close behind, lapping only 0.055 slower. The fastest time overall was set by a car competing in the British GT championship, the #175 Optimum Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.
Of the new-for-2018 cars, the #23 Nissan was fastest, followed by the #7 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental (4th), the #14 Emil Frey Lexus (17th) and the long-awaited #30 Castrol Honda Racing NSX GT3 (19th).
With the data gathered during the Official Test Day, the teams now have three weeks to undertake their final preparations for the Total 24 Hours of Spa. The Bronze Test on Tuesday, 24 July will be the first track action ahead of the Belgian endurance classic.
Be sure to read our comprehensive, class-by-class preview ahead of the race in a little over three weeks time.
