Brock Gilchrist and Rylan Gray have stepped up to another level in free practice overnight at the ADAC GT4 Germany event at the Nürburgring, ending the day fastest overall in the first session and third quickest in the second.
The Toyota 86 Champion and rookie winner built on three impressive test sessions on Thursday to make a big step forward on Friday.
P1 in the first free practice session came with the help of a new set of tyres when most were running older rubber, but the more representative second session saw them go third fastest, leaving them in great shape for tonight’s qualifying and first race.
“Today went well, we’ve had good speed all weekend and we were able to show it today and just keep progressing,” said Gray. “We had a little tyre advantage this morning, but the second session was a level playing field, and we were still there so I’m looking forward to seeing what the weekend holds.
Gilchrist was also happy with the step-up in pace, adding: “This morning I did need to adjust to the new tyre but I think in the afternoon we definitely had very good race pace. I’m feeling pretty confident with my qualifying pace too and hopefully that will be reflected in the qualifying session tomorrow.”
In a highly competitive field of 27 GT4 cars, however, the two young racers remain grounded and focussed, especially as the qualifying sessions and races to come will bring out the best in the other cars and drivers.
“I think we’ll be happy with a top ten in qualifying given it is still our first time here and in the car, but we could be further up than we think so we’ll see,” added Gray. “I’ve watched a few races here before and there’s some wild stuff for sure but as long we keep our noses clean I definitely think we can come home with a strong result.”
Gilchrist, too, says the goal is still just to turn in a solid performance in their debut weekend. “We have a simple goal to be in the top ten, but we know tomorrow is a different day for all of the field, so we’ll just see what happens.”
Brock will qualify the car in the first qualifying session of the weekend, while Gray will tackle the second for Race 2.
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Words and Images: Supplied
