The 2026 International GT Open officially took off today with free practice at the Autódromo do Algarve, which hosts the season-opener. In what was almost a summer rather than spring day, the CBRX by SPS Mercedes of Dexter Müller and Yannick Mettler posted the best lap time (1.41.732), with most contenders faster in the cooler morning session.
The Swiss duo beat the Dinamic Motorsport Porsche of Philipp Seger-Christian Englhart by a mere 0s154, with the Elite Motorsport Ferrari of Tom Lebbon-Tom Emson and the ZRS Motorsport Porsche of Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana also very close, 0s292 and 0s316 away from the top, respectively.
Reigning vice champion Tommaso Mosca and Rafael Durán in the AF Corse were fifth-fastest (+0s469) ahead of the excellent ISR Racing Audi of Libor Milota-Filip Salaquarda (+0s474). Followed the Mercedes of reigning champion Team Motopark with Christian Mansell-Maxi Götz (+0s501) and the AF Ferrari of Laurent de Meeus and Vincent Abril (+0s512).
Fastest in Am was once again the Krystian Korzeniowski in the Olimp Ferrari (1.42.559) while in the sister car, Karol Basz topped the overall standings in session 2. Libor Milota (ISR Audi) was fastest in the Bronze test (1.42.893).
In the private test sessions on Thursday, the Motopark Mercedes of Mansell-Götz and Ramírez-Baumann topped one session each.
One car was dropped from the entry list, the #29, as the driver deal could not be finalised in time, while the Villorba Corse Lamborghini of Moncini-Testa had to be withdrawn after encountering technical problems (and a fire start) that could not be solved in situ after the private tests. The AF Motorsport Porsche #917 also missed free practice after technical trouble on Thursday, but should be repaired for tomorrow. Into Africa Racing by Dragon, on their part, had to switch to the spare 296 car after the Ferrari 296 Evo got significantly damaged in a crash on Thursday.
