Harper Fastest in Night Practice as Marciello Crashes

Dan Harper kept BMW M Team RMG atop the timesheets for the second consecutive qualifying practice session for the Nürburgring 24, which notably featured a crash for ROWE Racing driver Raffaele Marciello.

The No. 72 BMW M4 GT3 charged to the fastest time of the event thus far during the 210-minute session on Thursday evening, with Harper reeling off a 8:17.236 under the cover of darkness.

That time was significantly quicker than the 8:21.487 he set during the opening session earlier on Thursday, while also outpacing Marco Wittmann by 4.183 seconds.

Wittmann moved up to second place in the No. 98 ROWE BMW with a best lap of 8:21.419, although the car ended the session prematurely when co-driver Marciello crashed at Wippermann with a little over an hour remaining

Onboard footage from passing cars appeared to show the car facing the wrong way against the guardrail with damage to the front right, with reports another car could have been involved in the incident.

A BMW spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that Marciello was unhurt in the accident, adding that the team was still to investigate the extent of the damage.

Schnitzelalm Racing ended Thursday running third courtesy of the lap Marcel Marchewicz set aboard the No. 11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo during the opening session, 0.138 seconds ahead of the No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Dries Vanthoor completed the top three at the wheel of the No. 99 BMW, dropping the No. 27 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to sixth overall.

Most of the quickest times in the final session on Thursday came in the latter half as an incident-packed session resulted in frequent slow zones around the Nordschleife.

In the SP10 class, Schnitzelalm Racing suffered a significant setback when David Thilenius had an impact with the barriers approaching Fuchsrohe in the No. 111 Mercedes-AMG GT4 he shares with David Schumacher, Moritz Wiskirchen and Tim Neuser.

The recovery of the car and subsequent barrier repairs led to a lengthy slow zone, while Thilenius was reported to have said that contact with another car led to the crash.

The No. 6 Team Advan X HRT Mercedes-AMG also crashed, while the No. 775 Audi RS3 LMS DSG caught fire on the Grand Prix circuit, although driver Raphael Hundeborn was able to exit the car unharmed.

The third and final qualifying practice session for the 52nd running is scheduled for Friday at 1:30 p.m CEST (7:30 a.m. EDT), followed by Top Qualifying later that afternoon.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1+2