Nürburgring 24 Hours Friday report: Grid complete and drivers react following disrupted Top Qualifying

The grid is locked in for the 2025 ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring, and it’s Kévin Estre who put the legendary #911 Manthey EMA Porsche on pole with a scorching lap of 8m12.741sec in Friday’s shortened Top Qualifying shootout. It marks Estre’s second career pole at the Nordschleife, eleven years after his first, and Porsche’s first since 2018.

But when the lights go out at 16:00 CEST on Saturday, it won’t be Estre leading the field through the opening corners. That job goes to Thomas Preining, as Estre steps aside after having, in his own words, “done my job for the weekend.”

Red flag and a one-lap shootout

The shootout was interrupted early when Laurens Vanthoor crashed hard at Aremberg in the #16 Scherer Sport PHX Porsche. Vanthoor climbed out under his own power, but barrier repairs forced a delay of more than 90 minutes. The session eventually resumed, reduced to just one flying lap per car. Following the crash, Scherer Sport PHX has withdrawn its #16 Porsche from the race and will now concentrate fully on the #1 Audi.

Heading into Top Qualifying, it was the #1 Scherer Sport PHX Audi of Haase, Ludwig and Winkelhock that topped the combined times from Qualifying 1 and 2. After leading the way on Thursday, the team looked poised to challenge for pole, but couldn’t quite replicate that pace in the shootout.

Estre, meanwhile, delivered under pressure. “It was very warm and really not easy to find the right tyres and the right pressure,” he explained. “The grip is a lot less than the rest of the season… so I’m all the happier about pole position.” He added that he was “very relieved” to see Vanthoor walk away, calling him “a very good friend and my teammate for the year.”

New names at the front

Thomas Neubauer made his Top Qualifying debut and put the #45 Realize KONDO Racing Ferrari on the front row. “I really enjoyed being able to give everything without traffic,” the Frenchman said. “Even though second is the first loser, I’m very happy with the result, especially behind the legend Kevin Estre.”

Third place went to Maro Engel in the #14 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed. “It hasn’t been an easy weekend,” he admitted. “The team did a great job and really improved the car. Third is a good starting position. We are in a position to drive a good race.”

With track temperatures rising, Engel noted the physical and strategic challenges. “When it’s warmer, there’s less grip and the tyres overheat more quickly. It’s great for the fans, but it means we have our hands full trying to get the best out of it.”

Falken recovers, Audi fades

Fourth went to Nico Menzel in the #33 Falken Porsche. His day nearly ended before it began when a front-right tyre issue on the out-lap forced a quick pit stop during the initial start. “We had already expected not to set a lap time,” Menzel said. “So fourth is a very good starting position. The race is long, after all.”

Mirko Bortolotti placed fifth in the ABT Lamborghini, just ahead of Markus Winkelhock in the #1 Scherer Sport PHX Audi. Having led the combined classification from Q1 and Q2, the Audi squad came into Top Qualifying with strong momentum but ultimately fell back to sixth in the final order. “The car was okay, but a bit slippery at the end of the lap,” Winkelhock said after running a different tyre compound. “Our position is a good starting point. You don’t have to start from the front row — the race is 24 hours long.”

Luca Ludwig, sharing the car with Winkelhock, added: “Sixth place is a very good starting position. From this position, we’re right up there with the leaders.”

Incidents and penalties

The #11 Schnitzelalm Mercedes appeared to suffer a suspension issue during the session. “It looks like a suspension part has broken at the rear right,” said team boss Thomas Angerer. “We’ll have to take a closer look.”

There was also trouble for Adam Christodoulou, who had his best lap in the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes deleted after speeding in the pit lane.

Both the #48 BLACK FALCON Porsche and the #65 HRT Ford Performance Mustang were handed three-place grid penalties for being on jacks when the three-minute signal was given. Later in the evening, the #27 ABT Lamborghini was announced to be receiving a penalty that will send it to the back of the starting group 1 grid. Read more about that penalty here.

Final positions settled in Q3

Later in the afternoon, Qualifying 3 wrapped up the starting grid for the cars not featured in the Top Qualifying shootout. The session, shortened to 55 minutes due to the earlier red flag, determined positions from row nine down and gave teams a final chance to secure class positions and complete setup runs.

Among the GT3s, the #63 HRT Ford Mustang was fastest outside the shootout group, securing 22nd overall. “We have a really good car,” said Patrick Assenheimer, “and that we’re not further forward is understandable when you consider we’re running a brand-new car, on a new tyre, and developing both at once.”

The best non-GT3 qualifier was the #948 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, which placed 27th overall and topped the Cup 2 category with a time of 8m31.230sec.

Ready to race

With the grid finalised, all that remains is warm-up on Saturday morning before the field rolls off at 16:00 CEST. Estre’s job may be done, but for the rest of the grid, the race is just beginning.

Watch all the action live on GT.REPORT/live.

Full qualifying results.