Robert Seiwert
Head of Motorsport
Robert was already writing for sports media before his time at MSM. He has been reporting on DTM, Daytona, Le Mans and other events directly from the racetrack since 2011.MORE
The best performer in this endeavor was the #72 BMW M4 GT3 of local hero RMG (Harper/Hesse/Weerts). BMW works driver Max Hesse topped the timesheet with a best time of 8:21.487 minutes. The BMW, which will be replaced by a recently presented Evo model in 2025, was somewhat surprisingly followed by the #11 Schnitzelalm-Mercedes (Marchewicz/Härtling/Heyer). The Mercedes-AMG GT3, registered in the Pro-Am classification, was 0.4 seconds behind the lead.
24h Nürburgring: Five brands in the top 5 in qualifying
There was a lot of activity at the top of the rankings in adverse weather conditions: Behind the BMW and the Mercedes, the #911 Manthey-Porsche (L. Vanthoor/Preining/Estre/Güven) from the record-winning team from Meuspath was in third place. The Grello was followed by last year’s winner, the #1 Frikadelli-Ferrari with a new driver line-up (Laser/Keilwitz/Ludwig/Varrone), in fourth place. The #27 Abt-Lamborghini (K. van der Linde/Mapelli/Pepper) completed the top five.
The wet track claimed its first victims, especially in the Metzgesfeld area due to a trickle on the track. This was where the #7 Konrad Lamborghini (Soufi/Kratz/Paul/Caresani) was hit, among others, which sustained damage to the rear axle due to an impact. Colin Caresani joined Franz Konrad’s team as a last-minute signing: “I received a call yesterday evening at 10 o’clock asking if I could drive Lamborghini on the Nordschleife. I was here at the hotel at 2 a.m.
Konrad-Lambo and Falken-Porsche crash
Shortly before the Konrad Lambo, the #33 Falken Porsche (Andlauer/Bachler/Müller/Picariello) with Alessio Picariello had already crashed into the guard rails on the Nordschleife. The Belgian was able to bring the previously very successful 911 back to the pit lane under his own power and later continued driving. There was also a moment of shock in the garage of the #706 Glickenhaus (Mutsch/Mailleux/Arnold/Ledogar), when the experienced Bitburger Thomas Mutsch was briefly ‘on the hook’. He had been able to prevent the impact when the prototype spun.
In the meantime, another fan favorite, the small Dacia Logan, reported a technical problem at the entrance to the pit lane. On a wet track, the #34 Walkenhorst-Aston-Martin (Krognes/Giermaziak/Pittard/Thiim), one of the contenders for victory, slipped off the track on the GP track in the final phase and landed roughly in the tire stack.
The race continues on Thursday evening with the second qualifying session from 8:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. The weather forecast continues to predict rain showers until late in the evening.
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