Mercedes-AMG hit the front in Pre-Qualifying at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with three of its cars placing among the top four at the conclusion of the 90-minute session.
The best of them was the #777 Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar entry, which posted a 1m41.075s in the hands of Luca Stolz. The German shaded the #89 Akkodis ASP machine driven by Thomas Drouet by 0.029s.
Third spot went to the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Dennis Olsen, who clocked in 0.096s shy of Stolz. In P4, the #88 Akkodis ASP entry maintained its front-running pace thanks to a 1m41.295s from Raffaele Marciello.
Ferrari also remains a factor. The #71 AF Corse - Francorchamps Motors machine driven by Davide Rigon was fifth, 0.232s off top spot. Sixth went to Alex Fontana, whose #24 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche crew has already sealed the Pro-Am title.
Bronze Cup honours went to the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW. Series newcomer Ben Green was an impressive P8 overall, within half a second of Stolz. The #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi was ninth and led the Silver Cup thanks to Lorenzo Patrese, while Max Hofer (#21 Comtoyou Racing) put the same model on top of the Gold Cup in P11 overall.
With Saturday's track activity complete, the next session is Qualifying at 09:45 CEST on Sunday morning. This will set the grid for the season-deciding Endurance Cup contest, which gets underway at 15:00. All of the action will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel.
