Luca Ludwig put Racing One’s #19 Goodyear-shod Ferrari 296 atop the times in Qualifying 3 with a blistering 8:12.443 on his final tour of the session.
Ludwig’s lap put the Ferrari fastest by seven and a half tenths over Arjun Maini’s 8:14.133 set in Qualifying 2 yesterday evening. It was one of only a handful of improvements at the top of the timing screens in the combined sessions in Q3.
Unfortunately, Maini’s time from Q2 was deleted after the session and the #6 ended up dropping to fifth in the combined order. The deletion was the result of a penalty handed to the team yesterday for speeding in the pit lane which meant the best time for the car over the three sessions wouldn’t count. The car’s best recorded time after the penalty was applied was a 8:14.133.
This post-session change meant that the #5 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 was promoted to second, after Alex Sims improved on the team’s best lap during Q3 with a 8:13.467.
The #911 Manthey Porsche ended up third after the #6’s lap was deleted. Shortly after the session the #911 dropped to 23rd on the timing screens, having lost its best time, howeverm the results and penalty list published since have seen the #911’s top three spot restored.
After the #6’s lap was deleted the top five in the combined times below the #19, #5 and #911 was completed by the #2 AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes and #27 Abt Sportsline Lamborghini. The #6 AMG Team Bilstein Mercedes ended up sixth.
One car which looked poised to improve at the end was the #20 WTM By Rinaldi Ferrari, with Daniel Keilwitz pushing hard on his final flying lap, which began just after Ludwig’s.
After a strong start to the lap by the German, the second half of his tour of the Nordschleife wasn’t quick enough to improve on the team’s best time. It ended up ninth, 2.2 seconds off Ludwig’s time and almost tenths off the #3 Getspeed Mercedes that slotted in eigth which in turn was a tenth off the Frikadelli Ferrari that finished up seventh.
Elsewhere in the running order, the biggest headline in the session concerned Porsche’s 911 GT3 R 992s, as four examples hit trouble in the final 22 minutes. The #96 Rutronik, #911 Manthey, #25 Huber and #44 Falken 911s all stopped on track with punctures, three of them seen on the TV screens concerning the left rear.
Porsche’s GT3 cars were handed a BoP change late last night, which affected the car’s weight, rake and power levels. Were these failures a coincidence or is the new mandate to blame? There will surely be investigation work undertaken between Q3 and Top Qualifying by Porsche and the race organisers to find out…
Next up on the schedule is Top Qualifying shootout, which is due to get underway at 17:30 local time.
Featured image courtesy of the Nürburgring
