Hesse: BMW “Shouldn’t Get Too Excited” After N24 Pole

Max Hesse believes BMW M Team RMG “should not get too excited” after taking pole position for the Nürburging 24, although he admitted the team is in a “good position” after topping all but one qualifying session.

The BMW factory driver came out on top in a qualifying duel with Manthey EMA driver Laurens Vanthoor during the second segment of Top Qualifying on Friday evening to secure the Munich marque’s first N24 pole since 2021.

The No. 72 BMW M4 GT3, with Hesse shares with Dan Harper and Charles Weerts, has been the car to beat so far as it has led the way in every single qualifying practice session.

It was only beaten to the top spot in the first segment of Top Qualifying, where Harper successfully managed to push through into the final pole shootout but ended the session in third place behind Nico Varrone and Sheldon van der Linde.

Hesse cited confidence in the car across the crew as one of the reasons it has been consistently quick since on-track running began on Thursday.

“The car feels very good since yesterday morning,” Hesse told Sportscar365.

“The team has done a great job in preparation. Obviously we’ve missed, let’s say, some of the stuff compared to last season with the NLS rounds [due to] clashes and so on.

“So for us, it was important to get quickly up to speed, which we’ve done at the Qualifiers I think.

“The car has been feeling very good so far. We’ve been happy in all the sessions, so looking forward to tomorrow.”

When asked if the team will be able to carry over its momentum built over the weekend into the race, Hesse replied: “We’ll try.”

He added: “I think the conditions will be probably a mixture, especially at the beginning of the race.

“So this will add some extra spice, let’s say. But I think we’re in a good position now.

“We should not get too excited and try to execute the way we’ve been doing the past few days and then hopefully have a good race.”

Hesse and Harper have faced a tough run of luck in recent editions of the N24, having not yet finished a race since they stepped up to GT3.

As part of the Junior Team, they took an SP8T class win together with Neil Verhagen in 2020, but the three drivers retired from every edition of the Eifel endurance classic since.

“We always had the pace the past few years, but we didn’t finish the race yet where we would like to, or not at all,” Hesse said.

“So obviously this is our still main target, to finish the race. I think if we finish the race and we execute well, then we hopefully are in a good position.”

Vanthoor: Tires “Slowly Dropped Away” on Fastest Lap

Hesse ultimately beat Vanthoor’s No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R by 0.406 seconds, although the Belgian initially appeared to be headed for provisional pole with a series of absolute best sectors early in the lap.

Vanthoor attributed his worse second part of the lap to tire drop-off, admitting that the first half felt “astonishingly good.”

“I was a bit scared in the beginning on the warm-up lap because I felt like a qualifying car always needs to have good front grip, especially a Porsche,” Vanthoor said.

“On the warm-up lap I was like, ‘Jeez, this is a lot, so let’s see what’s coming.’ Actually the first half of the lap, it was astonishingly good and it felt really well.

“Then the tyres slowly dropped away and you could see the second lap was even worse.

“Who knows, if it would have been a bit more safe on the set-up, it would have maybe been equal, but probably a similar result I would say. It’s all very close, but in the end starting on the front row is exactly what we want.”