Black Falcon Mercedes Takes N24 Qualifying Race Win

Photo: Mercedes-AMG

Yelmer Buurman held off a hard-charging Nicky Catsburg for victory in Sunday’s Nürburgring 24 Qualifying Race, giving Black Falcon and Mercedes-AMG top honors in the final warm-up to the German endurance classic.

Buurman took the No. 5 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to a 2.158-second win over Catsburg in the No. 99 ROWE Racing BMW M6 GT3, after a fierce battle in the final two laps between the two Dutchmen.

The Black Falcon Mercedes emerged as the leader following the final round of pit stops, when Catsburg was locked into a fight with Richard Lietz’s No. 912 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R.

However, a 35-second stop-and-hold penalty for the Porsche, for a Code 60 violation, dropped it out of contention.

Buurman shared top honors with Thomas Jaeger and Jan Seyffarth.

Dominik Baumann, meanwhile, completed the overall podium in the No. 47 HTP Mercedes after passing the No. 8 WRT Audi R8 LMS of Robjin Frijns for position with ten minutes to go.

Frijns faded to 6th at the line, with both the No. 7 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of Nicki Thiim and Jeff Westphal’s Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG003c, getting around the pole-sitting Audi.

The Glickenhaus entry, running in SP-X, led outright for portions of the six-hour race.

Dumas, meanwhile, finished seventh in the delayed Manthey Porsche, 44 seconds behind the race-winning Mercedes.

SP10 class honors for GT4-spec machinery went to the No. 74 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT4, which finished 25th overall.

The Nürburgring 24 is scheduled for May 12-13. 

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John