In the final seconds of qualifying session two, Daniel Keilwitz set the fastest lap time with his Wochenspiegel-Ferrari #22. With his 8:14.591-minute lap, the German who alternates in the Cockpit of the Ferrari with Georg, Oliver Kainz and Jochen Krumbach (all Germany) was the absolutely fastest and qualified for the Top 30 Qualifying in superior style. “I really had luck as there was no traffic on my fast lap,” said Keilwitz. “But we know that we are fast and can match the pace of the front-runners. We wouldn’t mind if we could continue like that.”
The reigning champions – in the Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3 #1 – finished second but already were qualified for the Top 30 Qualifying. And earlier, Maro Engel (Monaco) who contests the race in two cars, already qualified the sister car #3 for the time-trial battle for the pole with the third-fastest lap time. In this car he will alternate with Dirk Müller, Thomas Jäger and Jan Seyffarth (all Germany), in #1 he is teamed up with Adam Christodoulou (UK), Manuel Metzger (Germany) and Yelmer Buurman (Netherlands).
Altogether, there still were 12 positions for the Top 30 Qualifying available and these 12 positions were assigned after the session according to the times set in the two qualifying sessions. The 30 cars that will contest the Top 30 Qualifying also will be equipped with a blue light that will be mounted behind the windscreen and helps the drivers of the slower cars detecting them in the rearview mirrors. The starting order for the Top 30 Qualifying traditionally will be publicly drawn on Friday from 15:00 to 15:40hrs CEST (14:00 to 14:40hrs BST) in the ring°boulevard. And at 19:50hrs CEST, the battle for the pole will be kicked off. The fans can witness the action live at the free-to-air station RTL NITRO or – with numerous additional onboard-camera perspectives – via the live stream at www.24h-rennen.de.
1 – Engel / Christodoulou / Buurman / Metzger (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
09:57hrs First improvement of the fastest lap time by on Friday morning – by last year’s race winners: 8:21.491 minutes.
3 – Müller / Jäger / Engel / Seyffarth (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
10:24hrs New leaders: 8:18.943 minutes
11:29hrs Maro Engel: “I was lucky and found a free lap. The car is really well prepared.”
4 – Haupt / Al Faisal / Stolz / Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
10:59hrs Hubert Haupt: “We are really happy. Daniel Juncadella set a very good lap time. We really hope for making it to the Top 30 Qualifying.”
22 – Weiss / Kainz / Keilwitz / Krumbach (Ferrari 488 GT3)
10:49hrs Oliver Kainz: “We are totally happy with the car. But we just were out on the wrong tyres. Now we will change them and then it’s Daniel’s turn.”
33 – Dumbreck / Imperatori / Dusseldorp / Seefried (BMW M6 GT3)
10:48hrs Marco Seefried: “The track feels good and we will have a fast race, We still will sort several bits and bobs out as we arguably will get a really warm race. In all the previous races it was clearly cooler than now and this definitely will be a factor.”
34 – Saurenmann / Rocco / Koch / Slooten (Audi R8 LMS)
09:48hrs Stops just a few metres after having exited the pit-lane due to technical problems.
43 – Farfus / Lynn / Felix Da Costa / Scheider (BMW M6 GT3)
10:05hrs Schnitzer regains the lead: 8:18.992 minutes
10:34hrs Augusto Farfus: “We still have to qualify our car for the Top 30 Qualifying. And to do so represents our No 1 priority for this session. I hope that the lap time set by us today will be fast enough to do so.”
11:29hrs Martin Tomczyk: “We haven’t driven the car with these tyres in these temperatures. Therefore we want to gather some experiences over the distance, learn more about the tyre’ and what it does if it is taken to this limit. That looked rather good to date and according to the forecasters it will be even warmer, on the coming days.”
99 – Eng / Sims / Martin / Basseng (BMW M6 GT3)
10:00hrs The BMW force strikes back: new fastest lap time: 8:20.893 minutes, 0.598 seconds faster
100 – Krognes / Di Martino / Henkola / Menzel (BMW M6 GT3)
10:38hhrs Crashes into the crash barriers in the area between Metzgesfeld and Kallenhard.
