News and Quotes Top Qualifying

The die has been cast – even if it took a little longer today: The Manthey Porsche with the #911 will start from pole position tomorrow. After one flying lap each, Kevin Estre was 1.168 seconds faster than Thomas Neubauer in the Rinaldi Ferrari, who will share the front row with him tomorrow. For one favorite, the individual time trial was over prematurely: Laurens Vanthoor crashed heavily into the track barrier in the Aremberg section on his first flying lap in the #16 Scherer PHX Porsche, forcing the race to be neutralized with a red flag. The subsequent repair of the guardrail delayed the schedule by more than 1.5 hours.

#1 Haase / Ludwig / Winkelhock (Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II)

1:17 p.m. Markus Winkelhock: "It won't be easy to achieve everything today. I've only driven a few laps so far and haven't been on new tires yet. But it's not about the front row of the grid here. Every time I've won here, we weren't even in the top 10. If we make it into the top 10, everything will be fine. The race is so long. Of course, I want to get the team as far ahead as possible, but if we're only eighth, it's not the end of the world."

4:36 p.m. Markus Winkelhock: "We tried a different tire compound. The car was okay, but a bit slippery at the end of the lap. But our position is a good starting point for tomorrow's race. You don't have to start from the front row; after all, the race is 24 hours long."

4:31 p.m. Luca Ludwig: "Sixth place is a very good starting position. I would have signed up for that right away beforehand. From this position, we're right up there with the leaders. A place in the first three rows of the grid is great."

#11 Heyer / Härtling / Fittje / Brück (Mercedes-AMG GT3)

4:20 p.m. Slowing down in Brünnchen

4:49 p.m. Team boss Thomas Angerer: “We still have to wait until the car is back here, but it looks like a suspension part has broken at the rear right. We'll have to take a closer look at that.”

#14 Engel / Martin / Schiller / Stolz (Mercedes-AMG GT3)

4:33 p.m. Maro Engel: "It hasn't been an easy weekend for us so far. The team has done a very good job and given me a very good car. Nevertheless, the gap to the front is bigger than we would like. But from third place, anything is possible. Being at the front also minimizes the risk at the start."

#16 Niederhauser / Vanthoor / Feller / Pilet (Porsche 911 GT3 R (992))

1:44 p.m. Laurens Vanthoor crashes in the Aremberg section. Driver is out of the car.

2:53 p.m. Update from Porsche: Driver Laurens Vanthoor was taken to the medical center after his accident. The medical examination, which was also attended by the Porsche Motorsport medical team, revealed that he is fine.

#17 Aron / Auer / Christodoulou / Grenier (Mercedes-AMG GT3)

1:36 p.m. Adam Christodoulou was driving too fast in the pit lane and has been disqualified from the fastest lap time.

#33 Andlauer / Menzel / Müller / Picariello (Porsche 911 GT3 R (992))

1:33 p.m. Slow driving on the GP circuit

1:33 p.m. In the pits

1:37 p.m. Left the pits again.

1:46 p.m. A moment of shock on the formation lap: The front right tire of the Porsche had a defect within the first few meters, forcing Nico Menzel to head for the pits with a flat tire. After a lightning-fast tire change, Menzel was able to resume top qualifying. He now has only one flying lap left, in which everything has to go perfectly.

2:15 p.m. Nico Menzel: "The brake was too far forward on the right. That's why the wheel locked up. I came in, the problem was solved, and I went back out. After that, the car felt very good. Then Laurens crashed his car. I'm glad he seems to be okay, because you don't want to crash at that spot. Now I'm going to watch my onboard video and we'll try to make a few fine adjustments. Then we'll build up the excitement again and do a lap."

4:44 p.m. Nico Menzel: “We're happy with fourth place. Things didn't go so well for us at first in what was actually the top qualifying session. We had already expected not to set a lap time. Fourth place is a very good starting position – the race is long, after all.”

#34 Krognes / Pittard / Thiim / Drudi (Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO)

1:30 p.m. Nicki Thiim has started the formation lap.

1:39 p.m. Nicki Thiim is the first car to return from the formation lap and is about to start his first fast lap.

4:00 p.m. Nicki Thiim is sent out for his second solo time trial of the day.

4:09 p.m. is the first car to return from the formation lap and is about to start the only fast lap available to him.

#45 Perel / Fernandez Laser / Jefferies / Neubauer (Ferrari 296 GT3)

2:23 p.m. Thomas Neubauer: "The most important thing is that the driver is okay. Of course, you're disappointed when you get a red flag on a fast lap. We'll drive again later and the battle will continue. I had a good feeling until the interruption, and we have to carry that momentum forward now."

4:18 p.m. Currently leading with a time of 8:13.909 min.

4:31 p.m. Thomas Neubauer: "It was a very good qualifying session for us. I'm a little disappointed. With second place, you're kind of the first loser. But of course, second place is still a very good result for us. We have worked very hard over the past few months. But the main focus is on tomorrow, on the race."

#48 Arrow / Bünnagel / Kaya / Piana (Porsche 911 GT3 R (992))

1:15 p.m. can participate in Top Qualifying after the accident in Qualifying 2.

4:57 p.m. will be moved back three positions on the starting grid. The car was not yet on its wheels when the 3-minute sign was shown, but was still jacked up.

#65 Fetzer / Schumacher / Owega / Owega (Ford Mustang GT3)

4:57 p.m. Will be moved back three positions on the starting grid. When the 3-minute sign was shown, the car was not yet on its wheels but was still jacked up.

#911 Estre / Güven / Preining / Pilet (Porsche 911 GT3 R (992))

4:20 p.m. Kevin Estre takes first place with a lap time of 8:12.741 min.

4:23 p.m. Kevin Estre secures pole position for Manthey ahead of #45 Perel / Fernandez Laser / Jefferies / Neubauer (Ferrari 296 GT3) and #14 Engel / Martin / Schiller / Stolz (Mercedes-AMG GT3).

4:35 p.m. Kevin Estre: “There's nothing better than driving a lap on the Nordschleife alone in the ‘Grello’, with new tires and no traffic. It's incredible. I'm really looking forward to the weekend. We have great conditions, maybe a little too warm for the tires, but good for the fans. We'll let Thomas Preining drive the start tomorrow, I've done my job for the weekend.”

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