Phoenix Audis 1-2 in Nürburgring 24 Practice

Phoenix Racing topped the time charts in Thursday’s one and only practice session for this weekend’s Nürburgring 24.

The German squad’s No. 4 Audi R8 LMS ultra driven by Christopher Haase, Christian Mamerow, Rene Rast and Markus Winkelhock posted a fast lap of 8:24.237 around the famed 15.769-mile Nordschleife circuit.

The No. 4 car’s time was nearly 1 second quicker than the sister Phoenix entry, driven by Marc Basseng, Marcel Fassler, Frank Stippler Laurens Vanthoor, which recorded a 8:25.223.

Nissan GT Academy Team RJN round up third quickest overall and in the SP9 class for GT3 cars, thanks to a 8:27.238 lap time by the No. 80 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 piloted by Nick Heidfeld, Alex Buncombe, Lucas Ordonez and Florian Strauss.

The top five overall was completed by the No. 26 BMW Sports Trophy Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3 and the No. 7 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

There were two notable incidents during the two-hour session, including an accident for the defending race-winning No. 1 Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Andreas Simonsen.

The No. 89 Rent 2 Drive Aston Martin Vantage GT4 also suffered a crash, but along with the Mercedes, is expected to return to action for qualifying.

The first round of qualifying gets underway at 6:45 p.m. local.

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