The best-placed Porsche will tackle this year’s Nürburgring 24-hour race on Saturday at 4 pm from the second grid spot. Works driver Laurens Vanthoor clocked a lap time of 8:11.398 minutes in the top qualifying 2. Five of the six 911 GT3 R advanced into the decisive individual time trial. With 44 Porsche-based racing cars, the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer has the largest contingent in the 127-strong field. Porsche is determined to clinch its 14th outright win at the 52nd running of the endurance race in Germany’s Eifel region.

The three previous qualifying sessions at the Nürburgring were run in changeable weather conditions with intermittent heavy rain. During the two top qualifying sessions from 5.30 pm on Friday, the 25.378-kilometre combination of the shortened Grand Prix circuit and the historic Nordschleife remained dry and sunny with outside temperatures hovering around 16 degrees Celsius.

Laurens Vanthoor tackled the top qualifying 2 as the tenth of 17 drivers in the individual time trial. In his first of two flying laps, he topped the timesheets in the first four sectors, with these times remaining unchanged throughout the rest of the session. The Belgian works driver managed his first attempt in 8:11.398 minutes. In his second hot lap with the ca. 415 kW (565 PS) 911 GT3 R fielded by Porsche’s customer team Manthey EMA, he was unable to make any further improvements. With this result, he safely secured a spot on the front grid row for himself and his works driver teammates Kévin Estre from France and Thomas Preining from Austria as well as Ayhancan Güven from Turkey.

The next best 911 was helmed by Klaus Bachler with Falken Motorsports’s No. 33 Porsche securing P10. The Austrian shares the cockpit with Julien Andlauer from France, Germany’s Sven Müller and Alessio Picariello from Belgium. Patric Niederhauser represented Lionspeed GP in the top qualifying 2. As the fastest car in the ProAm class, the Swiss driver achieved the twelfth grid position. Niederhauser shares driving duties in the 24-hour race with Antares Au (Hong Kong), the Dutchman Indy Dontje and Patrick Kolb from Germany. Position 14 is occupied by Falken Motorsports’ second 911 GT3 R crewed by the top qualifying driver Nico Menzel (Germany), his fellow countryman Tim Heinemann, the Austrian Martin Ragginger and Joel Eriksson from Sweden. The Australian Matt Campbell, Dennis Olsen from Norway and the two Germans Vincent Kolb and Robert Renauer will head into the Eifel classic from P15. Bachler, Müller, Olsen, Campbell, Preining, Andlauer and Güven have all come up through the ranks of the Porsche Junior programme.

“The top qualifying was the first major highlight of the weekend,” explains Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R. “Although the track stretches over 25 kilometres, the first ten cars were within a mere three seconds of each other, which underlines just how competitive it is at the top. We expect to witness this high level of competition in the race as well. Second place for Manthey EMA is a great result for us. Laurens Vanthoor turned a terrific lap. Falken Motorsports also demonstrated its potential with a top-ten placing. Twelfth for Patric Niederhauser in the best placed ProAm car is another impressive result. Now we must do our homework so that we’re well prepared for tomorrow’s race.”

Complicated rules for eligibility in the top qualifying 2
The format to gaining eligibility for the decisive second segment of the top qualifying (TQ2) is a difficult one. In principle, twelve of the 17 starting places for the individual time trial over two laps were already allocated prior to the 24-hour race – in the first two races of the season in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Series (NLS) and the two qualifier events. The procedure, however, involves more than the absolute top times in the qualifying sessions or results in the four-hour races. Take the NLS for example: Two TQ2 places were awarded after analysing the qualifying results. The ADAC combined the qualifying times of both races and only added the best sector times in each case. This means that an ideal lap time counts.

The same applies to the races leading up to the 24-hour classic: here too, the fastest lap is valid, theoretically. However, the organisers take into account the five fastest times per sector from stints in which the vehicle completed at least six laps in a row. Ultimately, four spots in the TQ2 are awarded for this. The organisers took a similar approach for the two qualifier events in May. Here, four TQ2 starting places were allocated in qualifying and six in the races. Vehicles that had already secured a spot in the second top qualifying segment were of course not taken into account when the places were allocated.

A maximum of 40 percent of the vehicles in the SP9 Pro class with an all-pro driver lineup go straight into the TQ2 – which is currently eight racing cars. The same applies to the SP9 ProAm, in which lower-ranked drivers also compete. Four vehicles from this category have pre-qualified for TQ2. The remaining five positions were allocated today in the first top qualifying segment. In this segment, all cars from the SP9, SP10 and SP-X classes that have not yet secured a TQ2 slot are permitted to participate.

For Porsche’s customer teams, this meant that in addition to Manthey’s “Grello” and the two 911 GT3 R from Falken Motorsports, the identical models from Herberth Motorsport and Lionspeed GP were also confirmed to take part in TQ2. Only the Dinamic GT team had to fight for eligibility in the final shootout in the Q1 individual time trial over two laps. However, as the eleventh fastest, the No. 54 missed out on advancing into the final segment. Marvin Dienst from Germany joins forces for the team with his compatriots Marco Holzer and Marco Seefried as well as Bastian Buus from Denmark. Holzer and Buus are also former Porsche Juniors.

TV coverage and live-streaming of the 24-hour race
The German free-TV channel Nitro will broadcast the Eifel classic live for the entire 24 hours. The pre- and post-race reports include two additional hours of broadcasting. The official race website provides a free live stream and live timing at www.24h-rennen.de/live. The crowds at the track can access the latest information at any time via the track announcer or on Radio Nürburgring on the VHF frequency 87.7 MHz.

Comments after the top qualifying
Laurens Vanthoor (B, Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911): “That was so much fun. The ‘Grello’ drove like a dream. I could’ve perhaps arranged the lap a bit better. I pushed hard at the beginning, but then the tyres started to deteriorate slightly. Still, second place is a great starting position for tomorrow’s race.”

Klaus Bachler (A, Falken Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R #33): “That was so cool, I had two great laps. Unfortunately, the car’s balance wasn’t quite ideal – we took a bit more of a risk with the setup. Tenth is still a decent starting position for the race. It looks like the weather could turn crazy again. Bring it on!”

Patric Niederhauser (CH, Lionspeed GP, Porsche 911 GT3 R #24): “With twelfth place overall and pole position in the ProAm classification, we’ve achieved our goal and are thrilled with our good grid spot for the race.”

Nico Menzel (D, Falken Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R #44): “P14 is definitely not what we wanted but we couldn’t improve today. We performed better in the previous NLS races. We now need to see what the problem was so that we can pick up the pace again tomorrow.”

Matt Campbell (AUS, Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #5): “We only managed P15 in the top qualifying, which is less than ideal. But I believe that our 911 GT3 R will run better in the race setup than in the qualifying setup. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

Qualifying result:
1. Harper/Hesse/Weerts (UK/D/B), BMW M4 GT3 #72, 8:10.992 minutes
2. Estre/Güven/Preining/Vanthoor (F/TR/A/B), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911, 8:11.398 minutes
3. Stippler/Mies/Feller/Marschall (D/D/CH/D), Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II #16, 8:11.406 minutes
10. Andlauer/Bachler/Müller/Picariello (F/A/D/B), Falken Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R #33, 8:13.692 minutes
12. Au/Niederhauser/P. Kolb/Dontje (HKG/CH/D/NL), Lionspeed GP, Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, 8:13.770 minutes
14. Eriksson/Heinemann/Menzel/Ragginger (S/D/D/A), Falken Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 R #44, 8:15.208 minutes
15. Renauer/V. Kolb/Olsen/Campbell (D/D/N/AUS), Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #5, 8:15.237 minutes
23. Buus/Dienst/Holzer/Seefried (DK/D/D/D), Dinamic GT, Porsche 911 GT3 R #54, 8:18.693 minutes
26. Bruins/Cho/Kim (NL/CDN/KOR), Hankook Competition, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup #60, 8:45.425 minutes