WRT Leads BMW 1-2 in Nürburgring Qualifying

Kelvin van der Linde, Charles Weerts and Ugo de Wilde captured pole position for the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup round at the Nürburgring, although the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO remains under investigation for an incident involving Weerts and Mercedes-AMG driver Jules Gounon.

A combined lap of 1:54.426 put the Belgian squad 0.020 seconds up on the No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW of Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello, with the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 third.

Alessio Rovera and Vincent Abril combined to lead the first two segments of the three-stage qualifying session, but pole for the Prancing Horse fell away when Alessandro Pier Guidi only managed to qualify 22nd in the final segment.

The sister No. 50 car, meanwhile, looks set for a back-of-the-grid start after Antonio Fuoco collided with Sainteloc Racing driver Paul Evrard at Turn 1 during the second session, eliminating it from the remainder of qualifying.

The second session also saw a notable incident involving the polesitting No. 32 BMW and the No. 17 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo driven by Gounon, which came after the resumption following the initial red flag.

Gounon and Weerts made contact on the straight between Turns 4 and 5, with the former appearing to be weaving to warm his tires when a hit from behind from Weerts sent the No. 17 Mercedes-AMG off the track and into the wall.

The Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed machine took no further part in qualifying, while the incident remains under investigation at the time of writing.

Garage 59 captured Gold Cup pole position in fourth overall with its No. 58 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo driven by Dean MacDonald, Louis Prette and Adam Smalley.

Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Mattia Drudi completed the overall top five aboard the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, ahead of the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Rutronik Racing, pole sitters for last year’s three-hour race at the Nürburgring, qualified eighth with its No. 96 Porsche, followed by the No. 777 Al Manar Racing by WRT BMW.

Mikey Porter, Largim Ali and James Allen rounded out the top ten in the No. 5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, one position ahead of No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren that captured Silver Cup pole.

Bronze Cup pole, meanwhile, went to the No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari in 23rd overall.

The Endurance Cup race at the Nürburgring kicks off at 3 p.m. CEST (9 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying