Hesse Beats Vanthoor to Take N24 Pole

Max Hesse took BMW’s first Nürburgring 24 pole position since 2021 by beating Laurens Vanthoor in qualifying for the 52nd running of the Eifel endurance classic.

The German driver reeled off a best lap of 8:10.992 aboard the No. 72 BMW M Team RMG M4 GT3 to outpace the No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R by 0.406 seconds.

Both drivers set their times during the first of two laps during the Top Qualifying 2 shootout on Friday evening.

Vanthoor initially appeared to have the upper hand with a series of purple sectors early on, before losing out in the closing stages of the lap.

As a result, BMW returned to pole for the N24 for the first time in three years. Nick Yelloly most recently took the Glickenhaus Trophy for ROWE Racing in 2021.

Ricardo Feller put in a second-lap improvement to leapfrog up to third in the No. 16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, joined on the second row by the No. 27 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Kelvin van der Linde.

Feller’s stablemate Christopher Haase completed the top five, ahead of Frikadelli Racing Team’s Daniel Keilwitz and the No. 99 ROWE Racing BMW in the hands of Augusto Farfus.

Fabian Schiller was the best Mercedes-AMG driver aboard the No. 130 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry, while Team Bilstein driver Maximilian Goetz and the No. 33 Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R completed the overall top ten.

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

Nico Varrone led the first segment of qualifying by setting a 8:10.889 aboard the No. 1 Frikadelli Racing Team Ferrari 296 GT3, beating the No. 99 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Sheldon van der Linde by 0.827 seconds.

Dan Harper in the No. 72 BMW, the No. 130 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maro Engel and Arjun Maini’s No. 3 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein entry also went through.

Some of the notable cars to be eliminated were the No. 8 Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the hands of Adam Christodoulou, defending N24 winner David Pittard in the No. 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and ROWE Racing’s Augusto Farfus.

RESULTS: Top Qualifying 1 & 2 (Combined)