Rutronik Racing led a Porsche 1-2 in Qualifying for Round Three of the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring.
Julien Andlauer, Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser set an aggregate time of 1’53.927”, putting their #96 911 GT3.R (992) 0.088 seconds ahead of Schumacher CLRT’s #22 entry of Ayhancan Güven, Laurin Heinrich and Dorian Boccolacci.
“Of course we are super happy”, Niederhauser told GTWorld after the session, “we had a tough 24 Hours of Spa and now to bounce back like this, we couldn’t have wished for anything better”.
“I think we understand what was wrong before, and we just need to keep it up and do a good race”, added Andlauer, who was fastest in the first of the three sessions.
GRT Grasser Racing Team continued their impressive qualifying form, with a third place for their #163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Franck Perera, Marco Mapelli and Jordan Pepper resulting in their third consecutive start on the front two rows of the grid.
Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-Filter will start from fourth, after an impressive Qualifying Three by Maro Engel saw him top the session with a new qualifying lap record at the Nürburgring, a 1’53.121”. The pace ramped up across the three sessions, as the fuel was burned off and the damp patches dried up.
Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed qualified fifth, with AF Corse- Francorchamps Motors’ #71 Ferrari 296 GT3 in sixth. The sister #51 AF Corse entry is set to start the race from 48th on the grid, after an unsafe release in Qualifying Three left Alessandro Pier Guidi unable to set a lap time.
Championship leaders Comtoyou Racing qualified seventh in their #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, with Mattia Drudi setting the quickest time in Qualifying Two. They’ll share the fourth row on the grid with their closest challengers in the championship, the #998 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3.
Boutsen VDS’ #9 AMG GT3 Evo and Iron Lynx’s #63 Huracan GT3 Evo2 completed the Top 10.
Sainteloc Racing took the Gold Cup pole position, with Jim Pla, Paul Evrard and Gilles Magnus qualifying their #25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in 15th overall. The point for pole position doubles their championship lead over #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed, who qualified second in class.
Rutronik Racing backed up their overall pole position with pole in the Bronze Cup, as Dustin Blattner, Dennis Marschall and Loek Hartog qualified an impressive sixteenth overall, 0.259 seconds ahead of the #188 Garage 59 McLaren which had taken class pole in the opening two rounds of the season.
Pole position in the Silver Cup went to Boutsen VDS’ #10 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Cesar Gazeau, Roee Meyuhas and Aurelien Panis in 19th overall, 12 places ahead of the next car in class the #12 Comtoyou Racing Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.
Qualifying Two was Red Flagged with under a minute left on the clock, after Lorcan Hanafin went off into the tyre barriers at Turn 9 aboard the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Vantage AMR GT3 Evo he had put fastest in the Silver Cup at that point. Subsequent barrier repairs saw Qualifying Three postponed by 20-minutes, a session the Vantage was unable to participate in.
Silver Cup championship leaders Winward Racing will start from the back of the 50-car field, after their #57 AMG GT3 Evo sustained front end damage in the opening session and was unable to take further part in Qualifying.
The three-hour race begins at 15:00 local time, and you can follow it live on the GTWorld YouTube channel
Pics SRO/ Jakob Ebrey Photography
