Schiller Quickest in Dry-Turned-Wet First Qualifying Session

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

Fabian Schiller went quickest in the first track action for this weekend’s Nürburgring 24.

Schiller, in the No. 80 Ravenol-sponsored Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, reeled off a chart-topping 8:14.957 lap time in the final 30 minutes of the two-hour Qualifying 1 session.

The German’s lap time was 3.112 seconds quicker than the No. 1 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Raffaele Marciello, who made a late-session improvement despite the arrival of rain.

It was a Winward Racing 1-2 at one point, with Max Verstappen’s 8:18.539 lap time in the No. 3 Verstappen Racing-entered machine jumped to the top of the time sheets in the opening hour while under dry conditions.

Verstappen, however, was relegated to third quickest, with the No. 99 ROWE BMW of Dan Harper and the No. 911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Evo of Thomas Preining completing the top-five.

The Marco Mapelli-driven No. 130 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 was sixth, followed by Marco Wittmann’s Yokohama-shod Schubert BMW and the best of the HRT Ford Mustang GT3 EVOs in eighth with the No. 64 machine.

The No. 67 HRT Mustang, which features 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona class winners Christopher Mies, Dennis Olsen and Fred Vervisch, plus Frank Stippler, stopped on track in the opening hour with Mies at the wheel with fluid coming from the car.

It came after a serious collision on the Grand Prix portion of the circuit between the No. 900 Black Falcon Team Zimmermann Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Alexander Hardt, who bailed from his burning Porsche just moments before it was hit by the No. 146 Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing Porsche of Janina Schall.

The most notable SP9 car to be hit with significant trouble was Ricardo Feller, who crashed his No. 24 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo between Metzgesfeld and Kallenhard after reportedly hitting a wet patch, in the early moments of the session.

The car, which also features Laurens Vanthoor and Laurin Heinrich, was taken back to the garage with nose damage.

The No. 7 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini was also in strife, with smoke coming from the car’s engine compartment while in pit lane.

Rain intensified in the final 20 minutes, which saw teams switch to wet-weather tires.

Qualifying 2 is next up and is scheduled to run from 8-11:30 p.m. CEST (2-5:30 p.m. EST), which will offer drivers a chance of night-time running.

RESULTS: Qualifying 1

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