Walkenhorst Leads BMW Podium Sweep in N24 Qualifying Race

Photo: BMW

Walkenhorst Motorsport won Sunday’s Nürburgring 24 Qualifying Race with a late-race pass executed by Christian Krognes, who led a BMW podium sweep at the line.

The Norwegian driver made his way past BMW factory driver Jesse Krohn on the GP loop with 11 minutes remaining, putting his Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT3 ahead of Krohn’s ROWE Racing entry.

The six-hour race, which acts as a curtain-raiser for the Nürburgring 24 in five weeks’ time, largely went the way of BMW teams, with Walkenhorst and ROWE locking out the top three positions at the line.

Krognes combined with David Pittard and Nick Yelloly in Walkenhorst’s No. 101 BMW, which led a total of 10 out of 41 laps.

ROWE’s No. 99 BMW, which ultimately finished runner-up by 12.6 seconds, led for over half the race distance, with Krohn sharing driving duties with John Edwards.

Connor De Philippi moved the other ROWE BMW into third position on the final lap, giving BMW a sweep of the podium positions.

Laurens Vanthoor had been running in third during the final stint but the Belgian was forced to bring his No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R into the pits on the penultimate lap with a steering problem.

He shared the car, which was classified as a DNF in the final classification, with fellow Porsche works drivers Earl Bamber, Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre.

It meant that Frikadelli Racing Team’s No. 31 car became the best-placed Porsche, with Matt Campbell, Romain Dumas, Sven Mueller and Mathieu Jaminet inheriting fourth position.

The best-placed Mercedes-AMG GT3 was the pole-sitting No. 6 Black Falcon entry which crossed the line fifth, while Audi’s highest-placed machine was the Audi Sport Team Phoenix car in eighth.

Phoenix’s Marcel Fassler took the lead from Yelmer Buurman on the first lap but ended up losing the lead shortly after to the Falken Motorsport BMW.

While GT4 cars were split across several classes, Black Falcon effectively took the category win with its No. 47 Mercedes-AMG GT4, ahead of the pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT4s.

The lineups of those two Aston Martins included factory driver Darren Turner as well as Alex Brundle, Chris Harris, Chris Goodwin and Pater Cate.

RESULTS: N24 Qualifying Race

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.