> Pun beats Kinoshita to GT4 top spot
> Result: FP2
A late effort from Manuel Metzger saw Solite Indigo Racing’s Mercedes-AMG top the timesheets in second practice at Fuji earlier today.
The German, who shares the #97 entry with championship contender MG Choi, set a best of 1m41.396s with just seconds remaining to dislodge Absolute Racing’s Weiron Tan and Martin Rump.
The #12 Audi dominated much of the 45-minute session after both drivers set times fast enough for top spot. But their best – Tan’s 1m41.701s – was ultimately bettered by Metzger to the tune of 0.3s.
Naoki Yokomizo’s Anstone Racing Mercedes-AMG was also a frontrunner throughout en route to third. The Japanese driver finished 0.4s shy of Metzger and 0.047s ahead of HubAuto Corsa’s Ferrari.
Championship leaders Tanart Sathienthirakul and Philip Hamprecht were next up in Absolute Racing’s Porsche, while Rio Haryanto completed the top-six aboard his T2 Motorsports Ferrari.
Audis finished seventh and eighth – Absolute’s second R8 beating that of TSRT’s – while FP1 pace-setters Craft-Bamboo sandwiched CarGuy Racing’s Ferrari.
Mercedes-AMG once again topped the GT4 class, albeit with a different driver pairing. Debutant David Pun enjoyed a personal scrap with Takayuki Kinoshita throughout a session that featured five changes of fastest times before the Craft-Bamboo entry beat BMW Team Studie’s M4 by 0.267s.
Ringo Chong backed up his earlier fastest time by finishing third ahead of the sister iRace.Win Mercedes-AMG and Birth Racing Project.
Official practice, qualifying and the weekend’s first 60-minute race all take place on Saturday. Watch them live right here on the Blancpain GT World Challenge website.