With Top Qualifying for the 2025 Nürburgring 24 Hours on the horizon, it was Christopher Haase who again ran fastest on the Nordschleife in Qualifying 2 this evening for Scherer Sport PHX.
Haase’s time in the #1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II came amid a flurry of fast times at the start of the session, which got underway with 15 minutes of SP 9-only track time. It handed the teams gunning for the final five Top Qualifying spots a golden opportunity to set a lap in clear air.
A 8:10.580 in the Michelin-shod R8, which was four seconds quicker than Haase’s Q1 best, was enough to lead the way. That was a second quicker than the #28 ABT Lamborghini of Marco Mapelli, which slotted in second with an 8:11.647. The car, though, didn’t have a fault-free run and required attention from the team’s mechanics in the garage during the session.
“We are very satisfied,” said Christian Engelhart. “Everything went according to plan. We had a few surprising problems in the first qualifying. But better now than in the race. We were able to sort them out and made good progress. We are currently in second place and would thus achieve our goal – entry into the Top Qualifying.”
The #16 Scherer Sport PHX Porsche 911, which suffered from a driveshaft issue and engine damage in the first session, was next, after late heroics from Laurens Vanthoor, who set an 8:12.103 at the death.
The Belgian was on the ragged edge in full darkness and with the pressure on, found a way to sneak into the Top Qualifying session. His first push lap saw him hit traffic and miss out, but his final tour saw him improve the team’s best time by more than three seconds and jump from sixth to third.
ABT’s #27 Lamborghini ended up fourth, with Jordan Pepper reeling off a 8:12.279 to get the car into the top three and comfortably into the shootout.
The final spot in the 17-car Top Qualifying session was taken by the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin AMR GT3 Evo, which runs on Pirellis.
Vanthoor’s late heave pushed the #37 Prosport Racing previous-gen Aston Martin Vantage to sixth. Nevertheless, the team heads into Friday’s action satisfied after a stunning lap from Marek Bockmann, who missed out on Top Qualifying by a tenth.
The #911 Manthey Porsche – which already had a shootout spot booked – leapt up the timing screens 55 minutes into the session and took seventh, after Kevin Estre set an 8:15.379.
Meanwhile, the only BMW M4 GT3 Evo in the field – from ROWE Racing – struggled to complete a hot lap quick enough to feature at the top end of the timing.
The #98 took ninth with 8:16.738, which was slower than the #84 Eastalent Racing Team Audi in eighth, but quicker than #64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 that slotted in 10th. It will start the race at least 18th.
“We are not completely satisfied with the first day, as we lack some important procedures due to the shortened preparation time,” said ROWE Racing team boss Hans-Peter Naundorf.
“We would have liked to participate in the top qualifying, but at the moment, we are having a hard time. Now we are focusing entirely on the race. The drivers should get used to the visibility at night, and we have to clean and tune the lighting system on the car.”
Top Qualifying is up next. The battle for pole will take place at 13:20 local time tomorrow. In addition to the top five cars from tonight, the list of cars that had already made it into the shootout can be found HERE.
Image courtesy of Frozenspeed
