Marciello Beats Engel to N24 Pole With Record Lap

Raffaele Marciello captured pole position for the 51st Nürburgring 24, breaking the qualifying lap record and leading a Mercedes-AMG 1-2 ahead of Maro Engel.

Marciello steered the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a time of 8:09.058 in Friday’s Top Qualifying 2 shootout, beating Engel’s No. 3 GetSpeed car to pole by 0.422 seconds.

The Swiss driver broke the lap record which had been held by Laurens Vanthoor since 2018.

Both Marciello and Engel set their laps on the first lap, although Kelvin van der Linde posted his quickest time at the second time of asking, reeling off a 8:10.498 in the ABT Sportsline Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to go third.

He was joined by the No. 30 Frikadelli Racing Team Ferrari 296 GT3 of Nicky Catsburg on the second row, with Frank Stippler completing the top five in the No. 5 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Nico Menzel came sixth aboard the No. 44 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Thursday pacesetter Arjun Maini seventh behind the wheel of the No. 6 HRT Mercedes-AMG.

Frederic Vervisch qualified eighth for defending winners Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX, with the top ten overall completed by Markus Winkelhock’s No. 16 Audi and the No. 2 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG driven by Maximilian Goetz.

Top Qualifying 1 Red Flagged After Krognes Crash

Five cars advanced to Top Qualifying 2 after setting the quickest times during the Top Qualifying 1 session that took place beforehand.

It was led by the No. 16 Scherer PHX Audi of Ricardo Feller, followed by the No. 5 sister car in the hands of Alexander Sims, along with WTM Racing by Rinaldi Racing’s Ferrari, the No. 2 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG and the No. 1 Scherer PHX Audi of Mattia Drudi.

The session was delayed significantly due to a red flag triggered by a crash for the No. 102 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW of Christian Krognes.

Krognes made heavy contact with the tire barrier at Hatzenbach, which severely damaged the left side of the car.

The Norwegian driver was unhurt in the crash and told the official N24 broadcast that he “suddenly lost traction on the front axle.”

Notable cars that missed the cut for Top Qualifying 2 included the No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche of Kevin Estre who ended up on the bubble and will start from 20th place.

Another BMW to hit trouble was the No. 98 ROWE Racing example in which Sheldon van der Linde lost control and slid into the barrier at Pflanzgarten.

The South African crossed the line with light left-hand side damage and qualified 33rd, behind the incident-free SP9 runners and the two Mercedes-AMG GT2s that also took part.

RESULTS: Top Qualifying