Nurburgring 24 Hours: Verstappen qualifies for pole shootout with sixth in TQ2

Max Verstappen scraped through to the pole shootout for the Nurburgring 24 Hours by only finishing sixth in Top Qualifying 2 - topped by Nick Yelloly in the Team Abt Audi.

The four-time Formula 1 world champion set an 8m11.614s which was faster than last year’s overall pole time of 8m12.741s, but Verstappen was still in danger of dropping out late on.

Qualifying is slightly different at the Nurburgring 24h, as Qualifying 1, 2 and 3 are all used to determine grid spots 50 to 161 with TQ1, 2 and 3 being what matters to the frontrunners.

A car must finish inside the top 20 in TQ1 to progress to the second session and the Verstappen Racing Mercedes managed to do that as Lucas Auer took fifth with an 8m14.871s.

Then it was Verstappen’s turn to drive the AMG for the second session, where he needed to finish inside the top seven to progress to the final outing which is determining pole.

It seemed early on that the #3 Mercedes was a banker for TQ3 as the Dutchman went fastest with his first lap (8m14.459s) that put him 0.984s in the lead having kept it clean.

That is unlike the current DTM points leader Maro Engel, who spun the sister Mercedes into the Hatzenbach barriers resulting in an early end for one of the event’s pre-favourites.

#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon

Photo by: Gruppe C / ADAC

It was then with approximately four minutes left in the session that drivers headed back out for their second laps, and this is when Verstappen started to drop down the order despite also improving on his final tour.

Fastest ultimately went to Yelloly with an 8m10.485s, 0.139s quicker than second-placed Christian Krognes (Walkenhorst Aston Martin), while Ayhancan Guven’s (Manthey Porsche) 8m11.222s completed the top three.

A pair of HRT Ford Mustangs took fourth and fifth with Arjun Maini (8m11.278s) ahead of Dennis Olsen (8m11.423s), who was around two tenths quicker than Verstappen’s time, which was 1.129s off top.

Christian Engelhart (Frank Konrad Lamborghini) rounded out the top seven with an 8m11.937s, meaning eighth-placed Adam Christodoulou just missed out on qualification for Prosport Racing.

That Mercedes set an 8m13.935s lap in TQ2, so Verstappen was still inside the qualification spots by approximately two seconds ahead of TQ3 which starts at 1:35pm local time.

Jumping aboard the Verstappen Racing Mercedes in the final session will be Daniel Juncadella, and the top seven from TQ2 will join the five cars that had already qualified for the final outing ahead of the event.

That was done through either their results in previous Nurburgring Endurance Series rounds, or their performances in the Nurburgring 24h qualifying races, leaving it as a 12-car shootout for pole.

The five cars that Verstappen Racing will join are the #45 Kondo Racing Ferrari, #16 Scherer Sport Audi, #47 KCMG Mercedes, #1 Rowe Racing BMW and #84 Team Abt Lamborghini.