In bright sunny conditions, Axcil Jefferies started off the new VLN Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) season with a banger of a lap. Set in the opening minutes of the morning qualifying, the Zimbabwean put his #7 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 on pole position with a lap of 7m50.370 in the process breaking the previous lap record.
NLS1: QUALIFYING REPORT | RACE REPORT | INTERVIEW FRED MAKOWIECKI | GALLERY
Starting alongside from the front row of the grid alongside the Huracán will be the #44 BMW Junior Team BMW M4 GT3. Held back from attacking for pole in the middle part as yellow flags slowed down the pace, Dan Harper made a late dash for pole but came 1.480 seconds short.
Row two sees the #16 Scherer Sport Team Phoenix Audi R8 LMS GT3 start from third courtesy of a late 7m52.237s by Ricardo Feller, while the #3 Falken Motorsports Porsche 991.2 GT3R of Patrick Pilet starts from the outside with a time of 7m52.457s.
Jesse Krohn put the #20 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 on fifth place (7m52.889s), besting the ‘naked’ #22 Audi Sport Team Car Collection Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Christopher Haase (7m53.166s) by a few tenths.
Frank Stippler managed to lap the Nordschleife in 7m53.237s early on, putting the #5 Scherer Sport Team Phoenix on second place temporarily. With his teammates unable to improve upon the already quick time, the first lap of the Audi was good enough for seventh on the grid.
The top ten of the grid is rounded out by the #4 Falken Motorsports Porsche 991.2 GT3R – with Lars Kern not starting due to a positive COVID-19 test – #25 Huber Motorsport Porsche 991.2 GT3R and #29 Montaplast Team Land Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Remarkedly, 19 cars dove under the 8-minute mark, while the fastest non-GT3, the #53 True Racing KTM X-Bow GT2, was already closing in with a fastest lap of 8m02.292s in 20th position.
Watch the NLS season opener today live on GT.REPORT/live.
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