24 Hours of Nürburgring – Qualifying: Luca Engstler puts the #84 Lamborghini on pole position, Max Verstappen's #3 Mercedes fourth

There's a surprise at the Nürburgring! Pole position has gone to a car sporting the colors of Red Bull, but not necessarily the one expected. While all eyes were on the Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 n°3 Max VerstappenJules Gounon, Dani Juncadella, and Lucas Auer were all in contention, but it was Luca Engstler who emerged victorious at the very end of Top Qualifying 3. The German surprised everyone by securing pole position, 0.345 seconds ahead of another Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2. Behind the fastest #84 (Lucas Engstler, Mirko Bortolotti, and Patric Niederhauser), another Italian car made its mark: the #13 took second place, driven by Marco Mapelli, who teams up with Nick Yelloly and Nicky Catsburg.

Behind them, third place went to an Audi, salvaging some pride for the German manufacturers. The No. 16, driven by Christopher Haase, completed the podium. Ben Green and Alexander Sims' teammate set his benchmark time on his final attempt and managed to overtake the No. 3 Mercedes. This car was driven by Dani Juncadella, who replaced Max Verstappen—who had secured Top Qualifying 3 for the Mercedes AMG GT3 by finishing sixth and last in Top Qualifying 2. Juncadella, for his part, qualified fourth, 0.882 seconds behind pole-sitter Luca Engstler.

A slight disappointment, however, for the Porsche The 911 of Kévin Estre, Ayhancan Güven, Thomas Preining, and Matt Campbell. Austrian Preining could only manage 8th place in the Team Manthey Grello. However, this was enough to overtake the reigning champions in the Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO. Kelvin van der Linde, Raffaele Marciello, Jordan Pepper, and Augusto Farfus will start 9th.

On the French side, we must highlight the excellent qualification of Thomas Neubauer, 5th with the Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO of Realize Kondo Racing. Winner in the GT World Challenge at Brands Hatch, the Parisian confirms his good form at the wheel of the only Ferrari present in the top 12.

The 24 Hours of Nürburgring will be available to follow from 15 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, with the race finishing at 15 p.m. on Sunday, May 17.

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24 Hours of Nürburgring
The qualifying rankings