The fastest Porsche 911 GT3 R will start this year's 24-hour race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife from sixth place. Nico Menzel set a lap time of 3:8.11 minutes in the individual time trial of the final top qualifying session with the Falken Motorsports GT211 car. The German shares the customer racing car from Weissach with his compatriot Tim Heinemann, the Swede Joel Eriksson and Martin Ragginger from Austria. Twelfth and 14th on the grid went to Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport and the second car from Falken Motorsports.

The top qualifying took place on Friday afternoon on a dry track and spring-like temperatures. As in the previous year, it was Nico Menzel, who grew up at the Nürburgring, who clinched the best grid position for one of the seven Porsche 911 GT3 R in the decisive segment of the individual time trial. In the second Falken Motorsports race car, Austria's Klaus Bachler, Germany's Sven Müller and Belgium's Alessio Picariello will move into the seventh row of the grid. Two positions ahead of them are Porsche works drivers Mathieu Jaminet from France and Matt Campbell from Australia, as well as Germany's Patrick Kolb and Patrick Pilet, into the 24-hour race through the famous "Green Hell".

To explain: The top qualifying consisted of two segments. In the latter, a total of 19 cars fought for pole position and the front grid positions. 13 race cars had already booked their ticket for this individual time trial in advance with top results in the Nürburgring Endurance Series as well as in the races of the so-called Qualifiers weekend – including the two nine-elevens from Falken Motorsports and the 911 GT3 R from Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport.

The five remaining places in the final shoot-out were decided by the first top qualifying section on Friday afternoon. A total of 21 GT3 race cars from seven brands competed against each other. It had to be stopped and restarted after an accident in the Hatzenbach section, in which the track was heavily polluted. The four Porsche customer teams involved in this session narrowly missed out on making it into the final lap: works driver Kévin Estre was only 34 thousandths of a second short of fifth place in the Manthey EMA car. Italy's Matteo Cairoli (Rutronik Racing) finished seventh, Germany's Laurin Heinrich (Dinamic GT) ninth, and Frenchman Côme Ledogar set the twelfth-fastest lap time in the Huber Motorsport Porsche.

"We had an unfortunate start to the top qualifying: we had hoped to advance to the second individual time trial segment with one or two race cars," said Sebastian Golz, Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R. "Kévin Estre drove a great lap, but in the end we still lacked a little bit to progress. In Top Qualifying 2, we did a clean job with sixth place for the Falken Motorsports car. Nevertheless, we have to look at where we are lacking performance – if we look at the lap times, the gap to the front is still too big. We need to work on that now. Otherwise, we are satisfied, the vehicles are basically running well. Now we're preparing for the race."

The 24-hour race at the Nürburgring takes place over the 25.378-kilometre combination of the historic Nordschleife and the original layout of the Grand Prix circuit. It starts on Saturday at 16:00. A total of 133 racing cars will be on the grid, including 44 Porsches.

The event on TV and live streams
The free TV channel RTL NITRO will show the 51st edition of the endurance race live over the full distance. Live images are also offered by the channels of the 24-hour race on YouTube and Facebook. In addition to the live coverage, the https://www.24h-rennen.de website also provides a clear timing of all Sessions available.

Quotes after top qualifying
Nico Menzel (Porsche 911 GT 3 R #44): "That was better than expected, sixth place on the grid is really good for us. I'm surprised to end up as the best Porsche driver in the standings. For me, the individual time trial is one of the highlights of the race weekend: As an athlete, you live for those moments when everything counts. My lap went great. We improved with the car. That gives us a positive feeling for the upcoming race."

Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche 911 GT 3 R #24): "Our result is no surprise. If even the 'Grello' doesn't make it into the top 5 in the first round, then it's pretty clear what you can expect – or not. We don't have the pace of the top cars and we're still struggling with the set-up. I tried everything again on the second lap, but the lap time remained almost identical. More was not possible today. In any case, we only saw qualifying as a test, after our car had been completely dismantled and rebuilt overnight, because the worm was in it at the beginning."

Klaus Bachler (Porsche 911 GT 3 R #33): "There is hardly a better feeling than being able to drive two free laps all by yourself on the Nordschleife. It's unbelievable what speed everyone then strikes. With our new Porsche 911 GT3 R, we drive many corners almost at full throttle at the absolute limit – a lot of adrenaline flows through our veins. I managed a solid round. We'll have to see where more could have been done. But I am satisfied. The starting position for the race is okay."

Qualifying result (SP9 class):
1. Raffaele Marciello (I), Luca Stolz (D), Philip Ellis (D), Edoardo Mortara (CH), Mercedes-AMG GT3 , Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein, 8:09.058 minutes 2. Maro Engel (D), Jules Gounon (F), Daniel Juncadella (E), Mercedes-AMG GT3 , Mercedes-AMG GetSpeed, 8:09.480 minutes

3. Kelvin van der Linde (RSA), Marco Mapelli (I), Jordan Pepper (RSA), Nicki Thiim (DK), Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2, Abt Sportsline, 8:10.498 minutes 6. Joel Eriksson (S), Tim Heinemann (D), Nico Menzel (D), Martin Ragginger (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R (#44), Falken Motorsports, 8:11.211 minutes

12. Patrick Kolb (D), Matt Campbell (AUS), Mathieu Jaminet (F), Patrick Pilet (F), Porsche 911 GT3 R (#24), Lionspeed by Car Collection Motorsport, 8:12.257 minutes 14. Klaus Bachler (A), Sven Müller (D), Alessio Picariello (B), Porsche 911 GT3 R (#33), Falken Motorsports, 8:12.599 minutes 20. Michael Christensen (DK), Kévin Estre (F), Frédéric Makowiecki (F), Thomas Preining (A), Porsche 911 GT3 R (#911), Manthey EMA, 8:11.721 minutes

21. Dennis Olsen (N), Matteo Cairoli (I), Julien Andlauer (F), Porsche 911 GT3 R (#96), Rutronik Racing, 8:12.583 minutes 23. Laurens Vanthoor (B), Laurin Heinrich (D), Ayhancan Güven (TR), Christian Engelhart (D), Porsche 911 GT3 R (#54), Dinamic GT, 8:14.391 minutes

26. Dennis Fetzer (D), Côme Ledogar (F), Lars Kern (D), Romain Dumas (F), Porsche 911 GT3 R (#25), Huber Motorsport, 8:16.562 minutes

All results under: https://www.24h-rennen.de/ergebnisse/