BMW Quickest in Free Practice on Day One in Portugal

In the Portuguese sunshine and an air temperature of 20.5 degrees the BMW Z4 of Harrie Kolen and Nick Catsburg was the quickest car in the first session of the 2011 FIA GT3 European Championship, setting a best time of 1:46.028.  The nr36 Faster Racing by DB Motorsport BMW was 0.6 seconds faster than the second fastest car, the nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS, of Phillippe Giaque and Mike Parisy, who had a best lap time of 1:46.635, with the nr 16 Sainteloc Audi R8 of Greg Guilvert and Pierre Hirschi third, with their best time of 1:46.901. 

CLICK HERE for the result from Free Practice 1 

In the second session it was the MTECH Ferrari 458 of Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron which topped the 60-minute session with a time of 1:46.709s, just 0.070s ahead of the two Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4s, with Claudia Huertgen finishing Free Practice just 0.011s ahead of teammate Edward Sandstroem.  The session was red flagged half way through when the nr8 Team LMP Motorsport Aston Martin stopped on track in Turn 1.  The car was recovered and the session continued without any further problems.

CLICK HERE for the result from Free Practice 2

Qualifying for Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2011 FIA GT3 European Championship will take place at 9am (local) tomorrow morning, with the first race of the season starting later in the afternoon at 14:15.

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