Preining Fastest in Incident-Free N24 Warmup

Thomas Preining set the fastest time in the warmup session ahead the 52nd Nürburgring 24, which was completed without any major incidents.

The Austrian clocked an 8:17.134 aboard the No. 911 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R to go quickest in the 45-minute session on Saturday afternoon.

The ‘Grello’ Porsche already sat at the top of the timesheets courtesy of an earlier 8:17.761 by Preining’s co-driver Kevin Estre before Preining put in an improved effort as he took the checkered flag.

Maro Engel slotted into second with a similarly last-gasp effort aboard the No. 130 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, posting a 8:17.825 that was 0.691 seconds down on Preining.

Mercedes-AMG runners occupied the majority of the top five, with second down to fifth all coming from the Stuttgart marque.

Mikael Grenier picked up third in the No. 8 GetSpeed machine, ahead of Schnitzelalm Racing’s Marcel Marchewicz and Frank Bird in the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein entry.

Augusto Farfus took sixth in the No. 99 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3, ahead of Maximilian Goetz, Christopher Haase and Marco Wittmann.

Marco Holzer completed the top ten at the wheel of the No. 54 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The 52nd running of the Nürburgring 24 gets underway at 4 p.m. CEST (10 a.m. EDT), with the No. 72 BMW M Team RMG crew starting from pole position.