The winter break is over as the ADAC GT Masters got its twelfth season underway with first practice in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti (28, I, ORANGE1 by GRT Grasser) set best time in the session.

Bortolotti, who produced fast lap times at Oschersleben and was outstanding during official testing at the end of March, achieved his best time of 1:23.911 minutes early on in the session. “What a great start to the season! It’s good to be back racing again,” said the Italian. “I’m pleased with my best time. We’ll continue to prepare for the rest of the weekend in the second session. I always love it in Oschersleben. I really like the track.”

The Mercedes-AMG of Markus Pommer (27, DEU) and Maximilian Götz (32, DEU, both MANN-FILTER Team HTP) came home in second place just 0.174 seconds behind the Lamborghini works driver, followed by Alessio Picariello (24, B) and Christopher Mies (28, DEU) for Montaplast by Land-Motorsport in their Audi R8 LMS. With their personal best time of 1.24.112 minutes, they were exactly 49 thousandths of a second faster than team-mates Sheldon (18,) and Kelvin van der Linde (21, both ZA). The new Ferrari 488 GT3 prepared by HB Racing and driven by Dominik Schwager (41, DEU) & Luca Ludwig (29, DEU) completed the Top Five.

The session was stopped for quite a time so that repairs to the crash barriers could be carried out following a contact by Lamborghini driver Rolf Ineichen (39, CH, GRT Grasser Racing Team)

Calendar for the 2018 ADAC GT Masters

13/04/18 – 15/04/18 Motorsport Arena Oschersleben

27/04/18 – 29/04/18 Autodrom Most (CZ)

08/06/18 – 10/06/18 Red Bull Ring (AUT)

03/08/18 – 05/08/18 Nürburgring

17/08/18 – 19/08/18 Circuit Zandvoort (NL)

07/09/18 – 09/09/18 Sachsenring

21/09/18 – 23/09/18 Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg

Source. ADAC GT Masters/Photo. ADAC Motorsport