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Haase puts Audi ahead in preliminary Nurburgring 24 Hours qualifying
Race week for the 2025 edition of the Nurburgring 24 Hours – which doubles as the second round of SRO’s Intercontinental GT Challenge – got underway today with two action-packed qualifying sessions.
Across the two bouts of track time, veteran racer Christopher Haase ran fastest on the punishing Nordschleife circuit for defending winner Scherer Sport PHX. The German's time in the team’s No. 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II came amid a flurry of fast times at the start of Qualifying 2 this evening.
The run began with 15 minutes of SP 9 (GT3)-only track time. It proved to be critical in setting the stage for the Top Qualifying shootout for overall pole, as it allowed the teams gunning for the final five (of 17) spots in tomorrow’s clash a golden opportunity to set a lap in clear air.
An 8m10.580s from Hasse in the Michelin-shod No. 1 R8 was four seconds quicker than his Q1-topping lap earlier in the day. That was a second quicker than the No. 28 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini of Marco Mapelli, which slotted in second with an 8m11.647s That car, though, didn't have a fault-free run and required attention from the team's mechanics in the garage during the session.
"We are very satisfied," said one of Mapelli’s teammates, Christian Engelhart. "Everything went according to plan. We had a few surprising problems in the first qualifying. But better now than in the race. We were able to sort them out and made good progress. We are currently in second place and would thus achieve our goal – entry into the Top Qualifying."
This year, Scherer Sport PHX is running a split program, with a single Audi set to race alongside a brand new Porsche 911 GT3 R 992. The No. 16 Porsche generated perhaps the story of the night. After suffering from a driveshaft issue and engine damage in the first session, late heroics from Laurens Vanthoor saw the car sneak into Top Qualifying with a 8m12.103s at the end of Q2.
The Belgian was on the ragged edge in full darkness and with the pressure on, found a way to negotiate traffic on his final tour and improve the team's best time by more than three seconds and jump from sixth to third.
"It was important for us to get into the top qualifying tomorrow," Vanthoor said. "It took a while because we missed it in the first session and it took time to tune the car. But fortunately, in the end, it fit and was still enough."
ABT's No. 27 Sportsline Lamborghini ended up fourth, with Jordan Pepper reeling off a 8m12.279s to get the car into the top three and comfortably into the shootout.
The final spot in the 17-car Top Qualifying session was taken by the No. 34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin AMR GT3 Evo, which runs on Pirellis. Prior to this week, 12 cars earned spots for the shootout via performances in the N24 Qualifiers Weekend held prior to the main event. The list of cars that previously made the cut can be found HERE.
Vanthoor's late heave pushed the No. 37 Prosport Racing previous-gen Aston Martin Vantage to sixth and out of the pole showdown. Nevertheless, the plucky team heads into Friday’s action satisfied after a stunning lap from Marek Bockmann, who missed out on Top Qualifying by a tenth.
The No. 911 Manthey Porsche – which already had a shootout spot booked – leapt up the timing screens 55 minutes into the session and took seventh, after Kevin Estre set an 8m15.379s.
Meanwhile, the only BMW M4 GT3 Evo in the field – from 'Ring stalwart ROWE Racing – struggled to complete a hot lap quick enough to feature at the top end of the timing.
The No. 98 took ninth in Q2 with 8m16.738s, which was slower than the No. 84 Eastalent Racing Team Audi in eighth, but quicker than No. 64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 that slotted in 10th. It will start the race at least 18th.
"We are not completely satisfied with the first day, as we lack some important procedures due to the shortened preparation time," said ROWE Racing team boss Hans-Peter Naundorf.
"We would have liked to participate in the Top Qualifying, but at the moment, we are having a hard time. Now we are focusing entirely on the race. The drivers should get used to the visibility at night, and we have to clean and tune the lighting system on the car."
One of the major appeals of the N24 each year is the wide variety of cars that compete in the lower classes. This year’s 140-car field features everything from factory-supported GT3 cars, all the way down to a Dacia Logan.
It also includes a pair of factory-run Hyundai Elantra N TCRs with some notable names at the controls. It was a productive day for the No. 831 example driven by Canadian racing hero Robert Wickens, Mason Filippi, Michael Lewis and Bryson Morris.
“The first taste for me of the Nordschleife at night and it was really cool," said Wickens. "The moment I saw there was night practice it was my only request today to run in pure darkness. It was good to understand the visibility with so many blind corners and I did my best lap so far.
“I didn’t know what to expect, aside from the fact I expected the visibility to be better than it was. You sort of use the headlights on the GT3 cars sometimes to light up the road!
“We have one more qualifying session tomorrow and we look to go one better. We made good setup changes and so far it’s all going to plan.”
The car's best time was a 9m00.831s set in Qualifying 2, to go second in the four-car TCR category. The sister No. 830 car from the Korean factory went quickest, with an 8m58.685s.
"The track feels a lot better this evening," Morris told RACER. "This morning it was so green. The sun was going down, though, so it made for some tricky spots with the sun in your eyes. The car feels good, though, I'm happy with the lap I did after getting help up by traffic. Overall, though it was a pretty good car, it wasn't as comfortable to drive, but it was faster.
"It's really warm, which is unusual at the Nurburgring. There was a lot of traffic early, which is what it will be like on the weekend. I'll believe it when I see it regarding the weather forecasts (which show sun all weekend)."
"Our sister car has helped us a lot in helping us manage so much," Filippi, who is one of two drivers from Hyundai's winning line-up from last year, back for the 2025 edition, added.
"Coming back with that knowledge is so helpful. It's a really big team effort for us, and we share a lot with the setup and data, but they are the number one competitor, too.”
Top Qualifying is up next on the schedule. The battle for pole will take place at 1:20pm local time tomorrow.
- You can catch the first two hours of the 2025 Nürburgring 24h LIVE on RACER Network, June 21, and follow the whole race LIVE on the RACER+ App. Find out more about RACER+ at racerplus.com, and subscribe to RACER magazine and RACER+ at offers.racer.com/bundle.
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Stephen Kilbey
UK-based Stephen Kilbey is RACER.com's FIA World Endurance Championship correspondent, and is also Deputy Editor of Dailysportscar.com He has a first-class honours degree in Sports Journalism and is a previous winner of the UK Guild of Motoring Writers Sir William Lyons Award.
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