Martin Sets Warm-Up Pace in Repaired Mercedes-AMG

Maxime Martin set the pace in Warm-Up ahead of the Nürburgring 24 in the repaired No. 80 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo but the No. 24 Lionspeed GP Porsche was in strife as Laurin Heinrich collided with a BMW 318Ti.

The hour-long Warm-Up provided teams a final chance to experience the Nordschleife ahead of the race and, although the weather was largely dry, the track remained damp in places following rain the previous evening.

Martin set the pace a day after Maro Engel crashed the Mercedes-AMG in Top Qualifying 2 with an 8:32.206 set in the final 10 minutes of the session to end up nearly five seconds faster than the opposition, headed by Marek Boeckmann in the Pro-Am No. 26 PROsport Racing Mercedes-AMG.

Third fastest was the best of the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evos, the No. 34 Walkenhorst machine of Nicki Thiim which managed an 8:37.065.

The No. 84 ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 that will start the race from pole was fourth fastest, Mirko Bortolotti posting an 8:38.273 in the car that has faced a pre-race Balance of Performance adjustment.

Fifth fastest was the No. 911 Manthey ‘Grello’ Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Kevin Estre, who clocked an 8:42.238, while sixth place was occupied by the best of the SPX entries, the No. 66 Reiter KTM X-Bow of Marcel Marchewicz who was four tenths slower than Estre, who is expecting a “much closer” race than last year.

Seventh went to Augusto Farfus in the No. 1 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO that triumphed last year, with Farfus clocking an 8:43.947, while eighth was another Porsche as Alessandro Ghiretti posted an 8:49.601 in the No. 55 Dinamic GT entry.

Ghiretti was fractionally faster than Jules Gounon in the Verstappen Racing-badged, Winward-run No. 80 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that registered an 8:50.300.

Gounon was in turn half a second faster than Heinrich, but shortly after the German completed that lap he tangled with the No. 277 Ravenol Motorsport by MDM Racing BMW as he attempted to pass the car while heading onto the Nordschleife section.

The Lionspeed car did not head back out after the clash but was able to make its way out of the gravel under its own steam.

Eight of the top class SP9 machines did not complete a full lap of the Nordschleife during Warm-Up, but they did all at least briefly venture out onto the track.

Now all of the pre-race running is completed, attention turns to the race itself, which is due to begin at 3 p.m. CEST (9 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Warm-Up