BMW Z4 GT3 Tops Nürburgring Pole, Audi 2nd, Mercedes 3rd

What a difference a clean track makes. In the final qualifying session for the Nürburgring 24 Hours that was only open to the 40 fastest cars from the previous session. The #19 BMW Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3BMW Z4 GT3Germany, 2010 > present7 photos
 was the fastest car around the 25km combined GP track and Nordschleife with a time of 8:18.382. The second fastest car was the Mamerow Racing Audi R8 LMSAudi R8 LMS UltraGermany, 2012 > present6 photos
that did a 8:19.701 lap time; the 3rd place Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3Germany, 2011 > present19 photos
did a 8:20.050. Because of the long lap times at the Nürburgring and the 50 minute session.

All of the cars were only able to do two flying laps. Only 38 of the 40 fastest cars completed laps during the session. 

The times really fell in the final session thanks mostly to the lack of traffic on the track. For instance, the BMW Team Schubert car on the pole was 16th fastest in the first qualifying session with an 8:34 lap time, and it was 6th fastest in the second qualifying with an 8:30 laptime. 

That was true for all of the teams, in fact the top 19 cars in the final qualifying session had faster qualifying times than the fastest car in the second session. 

The #11 Porsche 911 GT3 RPorsche 911 GT3 RGermany, 2010 > present4 photos
1 video
driven by the Porsche factory drivers of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas, Lucas Luhr and Richard Lietz qualified in 5th. 

Audi qualified cars in 2nd, 8th, 11th, 12th and 13th. 

The two Aston Martin Vantage GT3sAston Martin V12 Vantage GT3United Kingdom, 2011 > present3 photos
qualified 16 and 17, while Aston Martin's other cars are in the slower SP8 class and did not qualify in the top 40. 

The top 18 cars in the Top 40 qualifying session were SP9 class cars for FIA GT3 cars. The 19th place car was the #12 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 MR in SP7 class. The next non-SP9 class car was the Ferrari P4/5Ferrari P4/5 by PininfarinaItaly, 2006 > present1 photo
in 30th place in the E1-XP class.

The GRMN Lexus LFALexus LFAJapan, 2010 > 20129 photos
1 video
in the SP8 class qualified in 32nd place.

You can view the entire qualifying results on the Nürburgring web page. English language viewers will be able to stream the race on Radio Lemans and Audi TV. German viewers will be able to stream the race on Sport Auto and Sport 1. The race begins at 4:00pm local time on Saturday, May 19, and runs to 4:00pm Sunday, May 20.

The Top Runners in the 40th Nürburgring 24 Hours

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