A day to remember for the Abt team: Luca Engstler secures pole position for the #84 Abt Lamborghini in the 54th edition of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring.
Team-mate Marco Mapelli completes the front row for the traditional team from the Allgäu in the #130. Behind them, Saturday’s race (starting at 15:00) could also see a rematch of the duel between Christopher Haase (Scherer-PHX-Audi #16) and four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen (Verstappen-Mercedes-AMG #3). Both cars will start side by side from third and fourth on the grid. In the practice sessions, the two drivers have engaged in several thrilling duels, which may well be the reason for a full house in the Eifel.
Only a few remaining tickets are available at the box office for Sunday; Saturday is completely sold out. The organisers urge people not to travel to the Nürburgring without a valid ticket; those who have purchased a ticket in advance should allow for significant traffic congestion and arrive as early as possible. Those unable to make it to the Eifel can also follow the race via the [24h live page]. This offers a live stream, a detailed ticker, timing updates and links to further fan content.
“That was exhausting. The conditions weren’t exactly easy,” said Luca Engstler, who, like his team, is based in Kempten: “We’d initially thought we’d be driving on dry-wet tyres, then it was a cut-and-dried slick, and in the end a slick after all. It was a ride on a razor’s edge, but that’s exactly what the Nordschleife is all about.” With a time of 8:11.123 minutes, Engstler secured pole position for the 24h Nürburgring for the first time and will be presented with the Glickenhaus Trophy on Saturday shortly before the race, as is tradition. Italian driver Marco Mapelli was just 0.345 seconds slower than his team-mate. Christopher Haase in third place was only 0.861 seconds off the pace, whilst Dani Juncadella from the Verstappen team was also just 0.882 seconds behind.
The best Ferrari, the #45, finished in fifth place, whilst the best Ford, the #64, was seventh. The fastest Porsche was the “Grello” from record winner Manthey with the #911; last year’s winners in the Rowe BMW #1 were the fastest car from Munich in ninth place.
Suspense in the three-stage Top Qualifying
There had already been a bit of drama in Top Qualifying 1 and 2 ahead of the showdown for pole position. First, twenty places for the second round were decided in Top Qualifying 1. Among those eliminated were the Dörr McLaren with the two former DTM stars Timo Glock and Timo Scheider, and the three HWA EVOs. In the subsequent Top Qualifying 2, Maro Engel then had a scare when he crashed the #80 RAVONOL Mercedes-AMG into the crash barrier in the Hatzenbach sector and was eliminated. “That’s obviously very disappointing. Apologies to the team; that’s not the result any of us were hoping for. It was my mistake; the tyre hadn’t reached its optimum temperature yet. That’s why I tried to push a bit to build up the temperature. I ended up skidding off,” said the DTM driver.
After the Code 60 zone around the accident site was lifted after all, events unfolded rapidly as all drivers suddenly had time for one more fast lap. Max Verstappen, who had previously led the standings, secured his team a place in the final individual time trial in sixth place after an improvement, whilst, for example, the Schubert BMW #77 and the Rowe BMW #99 spun off shortly before the end. The fastest time was set by Nick Yelloly in the #130 Abt Lamborghini in 8:10.485 minutes, 0.139 seconds ahead of Christian Krognes in the #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin. The remaining three of the seven places still up for grabs were secured by ‘Grello’ in the #911, the two HRT Fords #64 and #67, and the Konrad Lambo #7.
Full programme ahead of the race start
On Saturday, even before the race starts at 15:00, there will be a varied programme and some great racing action. Alongside various motorcades and a monster show lap featuring cars and trial bikes on the Nordschleife, the touring car legends will entertain the fans on the Grand Prix circuit.
Text & Image: ADAC
