Van der Linde Sets Pace in Wet Second Qualifying

Kelvin van der Linde set the pace for BMW in a wet second qualifying session for the Nürburgring 24.

The three-and-a-half hours of Qualifying 2 began with a wet track in daylight after heavy rain and hail shortly before the session got under way.

But the circuit did gradually begin to dry out a little and van der Linde was able to clock a 9:19.884 at the wheel of the No. 1 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO around midway through the session after darkness had descended.

However, another heavy rain shower then prevented any further improvements and left van der Linde’s pacesetting time around a minute slower than the best set in the drier Qualifying 1.

Van der Linde’s best effort was four seconds faster than the No. 24 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Laurin Heinrich, who clocked a 9:23.827 shortly before the rain returned in the car that had earlier crashed in Q1.

Porsches were also third and fourth fastest with the No. 911 Manthey machine of Thomas Preining going eight seconds quicker than Klaus Bachler in the No. 44 Falken Motorsports entry.

Fifth fastest was Daniel Juncadella in the No. 3 Verstappen Racing-badged, Winward Racing-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with a 9:34.713 that was a tenth faster than the No. 84 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Patric Niederhauser.

Seventh was the No. 26 PROsport Racing Mercedes-AMG of Marek Boeckmann on a 9:36.970 while the No. 17 Dunlop-entered Porsche was eighth thanks to Nico Menzel’s 9:39.748.

Rounding out the top-ten were the No. 7 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini of Christian Engelhart, who managed a 9:40.329, and the 9:41.870 set by the No. 99 ROWE Racing BMW of Dries Vanthoor.

Considering the tricky conditions, there were remarkably few incidents during the session, but Qualifying 2 was an eventful one for the No. 17 Porsche as Dorian Boccolacci hit the barriers at Galgenkopf early on before Alessio Picariello also had off later.

Also in the wars was the No. 80 Winward Mercedes-AMG that was fastest in Q1 as Luca Stolz had a spin at Hatzenbach.

There were also two notable penalties for cars in the top SP9 class, including for the No. 18 Lionspeed Porsche that was 12th quickest in the hands of Jake Hill which will need to serve a 45-second stop-and-hold penalty in the race for not respecting a Code 60.

The No. 55 Dinamic GT Porsche will also need to serve a 30-second penalty on the first lap for not respecting speed limits during Q2.

Max Verstappen did venture out briefly after the rain shower to complete a very slow lap of the Nordschleife, his first at night.

Another car that made a notable late appearance was the No. 67 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 EVO that suffered an engine problem in Q1 and had to visit the team’s nearby workshop for repairs. It returned to the track with half an hour of Q2 remaining.

Attention now turns to Top Qualifying with the first session due to begin at 10:15 a.m. CEST (4:15 a.m. EST) with the top-12 pole shootout of TQ3 then scheduled for 1:35 p.m. CEST (7:35 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying 2