It was a contrasting day of free practice at the Hockenheimring, where warm, humid weather welcomed the 29 cars, offering them a dry session in the morning and a slightly damp one in the afternoon.
The International GT Open got to action in Germany with interesting last-minutes changes in the entry list, as in the Saintéloc Racing Audi #26, Michael Blanchemain, taken by professional commitments, left his seat to young gun Matisse Lismont from Belgium, who already debut in the series at spa last year, taking a brilliant podium finish in the GT Open 500 race.
Line-ups had to be reshuffled also at Garage 59, which brought here two cars. Unfortunately, Miguel Ramos, not feeling well, was replaced in car #188 by Alexander West, who was due to race in car #8 with Thomas Fleming. The Brit is eventually pairing with local star Marvin Kirchhöfer.
The Garage 59 #8 was precisely the hero of the day as it took the fastest time in both sessions and all weather conditions.
In FP1, on dry, Kirchhöfer-Fleming posted a time of 1.39.076, beating the Eastalent Audi of Reicher-Haase by 0s566, the GetSpeed Mercedes of Ramírez-Aron by 0s900, the Olimp Racing Audi of Jedlinski-Basz by 1s011 and the Mertel Ferrari of Ludwig-Montermini by 1s184.
In the wet, the Garage 59 young guns beat the Elite Ferrari of Lebbon-Emson by 0s614, the ISR Audi of Salaquarda-Milota by 0s723, the Saintéloc Audi of Lismont-Paverud by 1s178, and the Motopark Mercedes of championship leader Révész and Götz by 1s399.
