Nürburgring Thursday Notebook

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

***The first on-track action for the Nürburgring 24 on Thursday saw notable incidents and mixed weather conditions, with the No. 80 Winward Racing-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Fabian Schiller having led the way. Of note, the No. 24 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Ricardo Feller crashed, sustaining damage to front of his SP9 Pro class entry, while the No. 67 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Christopher Mies encountered a suspected mechanical issue, having pulled off track with fluid coming from the car.

***The Mustang was transported directly to HRT’s workshop, located in the adjacent industrial park in Meuspath, for repairs, with the hope of it making it back on track for this evening’s Qualifying 2 session.

***Manthey Racing’s Thomas Preining, who set the fifth quickest time in the dry-turned-wet session, said: “We already had all conditions that are possible we had. All three of us drove, so in the end, we all found the rhythm and did the first couple of laps, which was positive. The car is driving very well and the team did a fantastic job in preparation. Now we’re doing the last small steps in preparation for tomorrow’s Top-Quali and the race.”

***While the majority of the mainstream attention has been on Max Verstappen, in his highly anticipated N24 debut, the four-time Formula 1 world champion is not being made available to the media this weekend, which is understood to have be a contentious topic within the press corp, particularly the number of F1 journalists who are covering this event specifically because of the Dutchman’s appearance.

***In fact, the entire garage No. 9, which is comprised of the two Winward Mercedes-AMGs, the No. 480 Dupre Motorsport Engineering Audi S3 and No. 569 NFR Motorsports BMW 330i, is completely off-limits to the media. Of note, it’s the only garage with four cars, with the 28 remaining boxes having either five or six cars each.

***Alex Brundle has been a late addition to Muehlner Motorsports’ No. 123 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo in the SP9 Pro-Am class, alongside Martin Rump and Ben Bunnagel. It’s understood to be the same chassis, nicknamed ‘Olivier’, that the team debuted in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona and is due to also contest the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, the latter which will mark the team’s 60th 24-hour race.

***Michelle Gatting, meanwhile, is part of Muehlner’s lineup in its Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry, which sees the Porsche-contracted driver make her N24 debut and only her second sports car racing start of the season after finishing sixth in January’s Michelin 24H Dubai in a Pure Rxcing Porsche.

***The makeup of HRT Ford Racing’s two SP9 Pro class entries are different than what ADAC published on the pre-event official entry list, with Mies, Frederic Vervisch and Dennis Olsen actually in the No. 67 Bundeswehr-liveried Mustang GT3 EVO alongside Frank Stippler, instead of the No. 64 car and Arjun Maini. Maini is not pulling double-duty as originally listed and is focused in the No. 64 car with Stippler, Fabio Scherer and David Schumacher. The team’s No. 65 Pro-Am class entry of Schumacher, Hubert Haupt, Vincent Kolb and Colin Caresani is unchanged.

***A Ford Racing spokesperson told Sportscar365 that the ADAC-supplied entry list was inaccurate and there has been no “swap” that the entry list suggests there may have been. “We are running how we had planned,” the spokesperson said.

***Click Here for the latest version of the entry list, which still shows a total of 161 cars but several other lineup changes, including Max Hofer being added as a fourth pilot in Lionspeed’s Pro-Am class Porsche, which sees the the N24 debut for 2024 BTCC champion Jake Hill, along with Era Motorsport team owner Kyle Tilley and Lionspeed co-owner Patrick Kolb.

***Christopher Bruck has replaced Karsten Kramer in the No. 33 KKramer Racing UG & Co KG Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, while Valentin Lachenmayer is now in for Ralf Schall in the No. 36 Saugmotoren BMW Z4 GT3. The second Z4 GT3 in the field, the No. 40 W.I.S. Racing Team powered by Koopman Racing entry, has also undergone a driver change, with Juan Carlos Carmona Chavez replacing Frank Nikolaus.

***Additionally, the Nos. 61 and 63 HWA EVO.R lineups have swapped cars, with the team’s third entry, the No. 62, remaining unchanged.

***Timo Glock revealed that Dorr Motorsport’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo effort came together at the last minute, with “no preparation” as the German squad heads into the race as “more than the underdogs.” The SP9 Pro McLaren is sporting a tribute livery to Michael Schumacher’s 1995 F1 championship-winning Benetton livery.

***Glock said: “We had the idea in December last year and tried to do it with a German manufacturer but it got canceled three weeks before the six-hour quali race. We turned it into the McLaren, with the beautiful 1995 livery for Michael, which I’m very thankful for that Dorr Motorsport just made it happen that quickly in a very short amount of time.”

***Defending race winner Raffaele Marciello was a late arrival after his flight from Marseille to Frankfurt was canceled on Wednesday evening. The Swiss-born driver, along with fellow BMW pilots Robin Frijns and Rene Rast took part in a two-day test at Paul Ricard with WRT’s BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar. Marciello, however, was present in time for this morning’s English language drivers’ meeting.

***It’s understood Frijns arrived at the Nürburgring on Wednesday evening. Both Genesis Magma Racing and Alpine were also present at Paul Ricard, making final preparations for next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, which included an endurance test for the GMR-001.

***Mies has given high praise to the Mustang GT3 EVO on the Nordschleife, despite only getting limited laps in the car prior to the start of today’s track action. The three-time N24 winner returns for the first time since 2024 when he was part of the lineup in the fog-shortened event in a Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

***He told Sportscar365: “I must say the car is way closer to other GT3 cars compared to the years before. We have more drag, definitely, but we also have more downforce. In general, the car is nicer to drive. The drivability is the main factor. When I jumped in for the first time in NLS3, I was actually surprised how good the car was, but I was also surprised how slow the car is on the straight because I was used to the 2024 test I did. That was obviously a big change. But in general, the car handles well at the Nordschelife. I was really impressed.”

***Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook is in attendance this weekend, who said that the “goal” is achieving an overall podium with the Mustang. “That’s a very important race for us,” he told Sportscar365 last weekend in Spa-Francorchamps. “I’ll say that about most races. But 24-hour races especially and on iconic tracks are particularly important for us. That’s an important one we’re focused on.”

***ADAC has introduced a new Top Qualifying format for this year with the battle for pole now being split into three segments. The first 30-minute session is open to all 49 cars entered in the SP9, SPX, SP Pro and AT1 classes, although five cars that have already secured a place in Top Qualifying 3 based on their performances in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie so far this year do not have to take part.

***The fastest 20 cars from the initial session will then progress to Top Qualifying 2, which is also due to last 30 minutes. The quickest seven entries will then join the five cars that have already secured a place in the final Top Qualifying 3 shootout, where each car gets a single lap.

***Stippler, a three-time N24 overall winner, believes the revised format has been established to prevent sandbagging “as much as possible” prior to the race, including at last month’s N24 Qualifiers. “Qualifying is very important, as there are 20 cars that want to compete for seven places,” he said. “This will be kind of a war from the beginning onwards, and this may be the intention which the organization had. The fans will have a pretty exciting qualifying already because there’s no space left now for any sandbagging.”

***The five cars already guaranteed a place in Top Qualifying 3 represent five different manufacturers. They are the No. 45 Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, No. 16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi that triumphed in the sole N24 Qualifier, No. 47 KCMG Mercedes-AMG, No. 1 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO and the No. 84 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

***Six cars were originally slated to get an automatic entry into Top Qualifying 3, but this was scaled back following the cancellation of the first N24 Qualifier last month when Juha Miettenen was killed in a multi-car crash early in the race.

***Another twist for this year is the SP9 Pro class cars without a direct entry to Top Qualifying 3 need to be piloted by a different driver in each of the three segments. “We opted for the new format because we wanted to make the process more understandable and transparent for the fans,” said race director Walter Hornung of the various tweaks.

***Alongside the new Top Qualifying format, another change is the introduction of light panels around the Nordschleife for daylight use. These have previously supplemented traditional flag signals at night but will now be used during the day as well, and would be particularly useful should tricky conditions such as fog be a factor. A total of 36 of these light panels will be used at points around the 13-mile circuit after a successful trial in the NLS earlier this year.

***Kelvin van der Linde has been named one of the ambassadors of the FIA Smart Driving Challenge, an initiative aimed to “help drivers around the world become safer, smarter and more sustainable behind the wheel” according to the FIA. The ‘Challenge’ is set to utilize AI-powered insights from the FIA SDC app, where drivers compete individually and as part of a team led by one of the world’s top racing drivers to be crowned the ‘World’s Smartest Driver.’

***In addition to the South African, recent FIA World Endurance Championship pole-sitter Malthe Jakobsen and reigning 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Yifei Ye have been named to the program. “Road safety has been a key focus for me since my time in the FIA Young Driver Academy, so I’m proud to be joining the FIA Smart Driving Challenge as an ambassador, where I hope to promote smarter driving, both in my home country of South Africa, and worldwide,” said van der Linde.

***Thursday’s track action will close out with a three-and-a-half hour-long Qualifying 2 session, which will offer drivers night-time running opportunities. It is expected to be Max Verstappen’s first laps on the Nordschleife at night after the called-off N24 Qualifiers Race 1 last month, which was due to end in darkness. The session runs from 8-11:30 p.m. CEST (2-5:30 p.m. EST).

Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report

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