Audi Quickest, but GT's provide the Action

Estoril, Portugal - Saturday 14th July 2001: The Johansson Racing Audi R8 posted the fastest time of the mornings combined practice, completing a total of 41 laps of the 4.2 km Estoril circuit. The Pescarolo Sport Courage C60 only completed 12 laps after a clutch bearing failure forced the team to spend the rest of the 90 minute session working to repair the car in time for qualifying.

The Konrad Motorsport Saleen topped the GTS class, posting the fourth fastest time behind the LMP675 Didier Bonnet Racing Debora. The RML Saleen S7R just missed taking the GTS honours by three hundredths of a second.

In the highly contested GT class the top eight cars were covered by less than 1.5 seconds. The number 60 PK Sport Porsche and the number 77 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche recorded an identical time at the head of the 12 car GT field with the British pairing of Richard Dean and Johnny Mowlem just a tenth of a second off the pace of the leading pair.

Round 3 - Estoril - Combined Practice - 90 minutes

1 - 7 - 900 - Johansson / Lemarie / Coronel - Audi R8 - 1m30.151s
2 - 72 - 900 - J-C Boullion/ Redon / Derichebourg - Courage C60 - +2.964s
3 - 28 - 675 - Dussau / Gomez / Bich - Debora - +8.448s
4 - 26 - GTS - Konrad / Brun / Slater - Saleen S7R - +9.156s
5 - 41 - GTS - Lambert / McKellar / Goodwin - Saleen S7R - +9.189s
6 - 45 - GTS - Monteiro/ Verdon-Roe/ Breyner - Chrysler - +10.998s
7 - 60 - GT - Youles / Liddell / Maserati - Porsche - +14.246s
8 - 77 - GT - Pompidou / Dumas - Porsche - +14.246s
9 - 73 - GT - Dean / Mowlem - Porsche - +14.360s

- ENDS -