Van der Linde, Land Audi Quickest in Qualifying 1

Photo: Audi

Kelvin van der Linde led the way in the first qualifying session for this weekend’s Nürburgring 24, putting Audi on top of the time sheets in the night.

The defending race winner reeled off a best lap of 8:18.914 in the No. 1 Audi Sport Team Land Audi R8 LMS, set early in the two-hour session.

Van der Linde edged out the No. 11 AutoArena Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jeroen Bleekemolen by 0.379 seconds.

The No. 24 Audi Sport Team BWT entry was third quickest, with the No. 17 KUS Team75 Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 15 Car Collection Motorsports Audi completing the top-five.

Trouble stuck Jordan Tresson in the No. 101 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3, who crashed heavily at Fuchsröhre early on bring out one of several Code 60s in the session.

While Tresson climbed from the car, the Frenchman was taken to the medical center for evaluation.

It was the only major accident of the evening from the SP9-GT3 contenders.

Times from Q1 will be carried over into tomorrow’s Q2, which is set to get underway at 2:55 p.m., and will finalize the grid positions for 31 on back.

The Top 30 Shootout, meanwhile, is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start on Friday.

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