Scherer Audi Wins N24 Qualifier, Verstappen Suffers Damage

The Scherer Sport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Christopher Haase, Alexander Sims and Ben Green took victory in the N24 Qualifier after Max Verstappen’s latest Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie outing ended in disappointment when he dropped out of contention with damage while leading.

The event began with a poignant minute’s silence in memory of BMW 325i driver Juha Miettinen, who was killed during Saturday’s first N24 Qualifier and resulted in the race being abandoned.

Verstappen was the star of the early stages of Sunday’s four-hour race as he stormed into the lead from fifth on the grid, grabbing the advantage from Haase on the approach to Schwedenkreuz on lap four.

But the pair then proceeded to enjoy a repeat of their thrilling battle from NLS2 with Haase making several attempts to wrestle the lead, albeit thwarted by Verstappen’s defense on each occasion.

Verstappen remained on board into the second stint and had built a 27-second lead when the Winward-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo suddenly headed to the pits with significant front splitter damage.

It was almost half an hour before Lucas Auer returned the car to the track and it ultimately finished 39th overall, three laps down.

The next threat for the Scherer Sport Audi was the No. 84 ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which halved a near 30-second deficit during the third hour.

But the Audi emerged from its final stop with a 17-second advantage and was able to grow the lead on the run to the flag to take the spoils.

The Lamborghini crew of Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler and Patric Niederhauser had to therefore settle for second, eventually crossing the line 28.024 seconds in arrears.

But they were still nearly a minute ahead of the rest of the leading SP9 class contenders with the final place on the podium going to the No. 911 Manthey ‘Grello’ Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Thomas Preining and Matt Campbell.

The Porsche had run third in the early stages of the contest but slipped back to the latter half of the top ten as differing strategies of the race unfolded, before having a strong conclusion to the race to complete the rostrum.

Fourth place went to the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG Team RAVENOL entry of Luca Stolz, Maro Engel and Fabian Schiller, which had started tenth but moved up the order in the middle portion of the race with Engel at the wheel.

Schiller did edge in front of Preining briefly in the final laps but the Porsche factory driver was able to inch back ahead to seal third place.

Rounding out the top five was the No. 99 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Max Hesse, Jordan Pepper and Kelvin van der Linde that inherited the NLS2 spoils and consistently pitted earlier than its rivals, before picking up places in the closing laps.

Further back, it was another impressive outing from the BMW M3 Touring 24H as the unique machine again mixed it with the GT3 cars to finish in seventh place.

This event was the final chance for teams and drivers to experience the Nordschleife ahead of this year’s N24, which is due to take place on May 16-17.