In the three-hour session into the night, the Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS #1 secured provisional pole with a 8:18.914-minute lap, thus proving to be the fastest of the 150 vehicles that are about to contest the 46th ADAC Zurich 24h race at the Nürburgring. Some three tenths of a second behind the Land Audi, an AutoArena Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3 secured second position. And in the final 30 minutes of the session, the Audi Sport Team BWT Audi R8 LMS #24 passed the KÜS Team 75 Bernhard Porsche 991 GT3 R #17 for third position.
1 – Mies / van der Linde / van der Linde / Rast (Audi R8 LMS)
21:05hrs Reigning champion is the only driver to be faster than 8:19 minutes. His new fastest lap: 8:18.914minutes
2 – Jans / Böckmann / Slooten / Luhr (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
21:15hrs Loses it in the area ‘Großer Sprunghügel’, goers off to the right but avoids hitting any crash barriers
3 – Haase / Stippler / Vervisch / Müller (Audi R8 LMS GT3)
22:07hrs Frank Stippler: “We tried different tyre compounds but were hampered by the Code-60 phases. Nonetheless, our impressions gained in the VLN rounds were confirmed. I hope this will help us setting the car up for the proper set of tyres.”
11 – Assenheimer / Schmid / Bleekemolen / Marciello (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
23:38hrs Jeroen Bleekemolen: “The session start was delayed by five minutes and so we believed that it also would end five minutes later. But it didn’t. It ended exactly at 23:30 hours and this was annoying as we wanted to run in some brakes at the GP circuit.”
17 – Christensen / Cairoli / Bergmeister / Lotterer (Porsche GT3 R)
23:31hrs Jörg Bergmeister after having been replaced by Michael Christensen: “My Stint was rather unspectacular. It was just about accustoming to the conditions.
24 – Winkelhock / Rockenfeller / Haase / Müller (Audi R8 LMS)
21:13hrs Nico Müller: “This was fun. Unfortunately I hadn’t a clean lap due to a Code 60. We certainly have got more potential. In the dark the racing is even cooler as you have the impression to be faster.”
22:19hrs Markus Winkelhock: “I did my two obligatory laps and wanted to familiarise myself with the car. Now we have to go for it to qualify for the Top-30 Qualifying.”
31 – Siedler / Seefried / Laser / Jaminet (Porsche 911 GT3R)
23:39hrs Weird incident for the Porsche. Norbert Siedler crosses the way of a rabbit – that loses the ‘argument’. The same applies to the 911 GT3-R’ front skirt.
41 – Dontje / Möller Madsen / He / Hofer (Audi R8 LMS GT4)
22:19hrs Phoenix Racing takes the SP8 lead: 9.05.874 minutes
44 – Bachler / Müller / Ragginger / Werner (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
21:43hrs Dirk Werner: “Driving here in the dark is unusual for me. Last year we didn’t get that far. The track was in a good condition- Unfortunately I had to slow down due to a Code-60 period and consequently, my lap time wasn’t too good. ”
48 – Hohenadel / Dontje / Götz / van der Zande (Mercedes-AMG GT3)
22:03hrs Christian Hohenadel: “You have to adapt your style of driving to racing in the dark. For instance, the turn-in points differ as the vision is different. Driving in the dark felt great. We just have to make minimum changes on the car.”
55 – Putman / Espenlaub / Foster / Maassen (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup)
22:27hrs Technical problem in the area Hohenrain-Chicane.
57 – Hill / Shoffner / Klasen / Huisman (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 991)
22:15hrs The quickest SP7 car: 8:44.103 minutes
59 – Berg / Hertenstein / Kodidek / Max (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup 911)
23:03hrs Spins in Veedol-Chicane area.
101 – Walkenhorst / Tresson / Oeverhaus / Ziegler (BMW M6 GT3)
21:30hrs Hits the crash barriers badly at the end of the Fuchsröhre, Car even catches fire – for a short moment. Driver Tresson out of the car – Code60.
21:46hrs Jordan Tresson is on the way to the Medical centre for a check-up. The crash obviously was caused by a collision in the Fuchsröhre depression.
22:21hrs All-clear for Jordan Tresson: he was discharged from hospital
705 – Mutsch / Mailleux / Simonsen / Westphal (SCG003c)
21:47hrs Cruises very slowly to the pits.
21:52hrs Following an extensive check, the car rejoined the race action. It arguably went over debris in the Fuchsröhre area.
911 – Estre / Dumas / Vanthoor / Bamber (Porsche 911 GT3 R)
22:28hrs Is pushed by mechanics into the paddock.
22:37hrs Fred Makowiecki: “We tried to use the first VLN rounds to learn to understand the car. I think we found a good setup. Due to the wet conditions in the practice session we couldn’t do too many laps. Driving in the dry is bigger fun and we now have to use the time for enhancing the car.”
