The opening qualifying sessions for the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring featured changing weather conditions, several on-track incidents, and close competition between Mercedes-AMG, BMW, and Porsche entries ahead of Top Qualifying on Friday.

Qualifying 1

Fabian Schiller topped Qualifying 1 for the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring after setting an 8:14.957 lap in the #80 Ravenol Mercedes-AMG GT3. Schiller finished 3.112 seconds ahead of Raffaele Marciello in the #1 ROWE Racing BMW, while Max Verstappen completed the top three, 3.582 seconds behind the fastest time.

The top five was completed by Dan Harper in the #99 ROWE Racing BMW and Thomas Preining aboard the #911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.

Marco Mapelli placed sixth in the #130 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Marco Wittmann’s Schubert Motorsport BMW and the best-placed #64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 EVO followed in seventh and eighth positions.

P9 was taken by the #16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II driven by Ben Green, while P10 went to the #17 Dunlop Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo26 of Nico Menzel.

There were also several incidents during the session. The #67 HRT Ford Mustang stopped on track in the opening hour with Christopher Mies behind the wheel after fluid was seen coming from the car.

A serious collision also happened involving Team Zimmermann’s #900 Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. The Porsche caught fire moments before it was hit by the #146 Giti Tire Motorsport by WS Racing Porsche.

Ricardo Feller was another driver involved in an accident after crashing the #24 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo while driving through a wet section of the track.

Meanwhile, Konrad Motorsport’s #7 Lamborghini experienced technical problems in the pit lane, with smoke coming from the engine.

Qualifying 2

Kelvin van der Linde put BMW on top in a rain-affected Qualifying 2 session for the Nürburgring 24 after setting the fastest lap in difficult conditions.

Heavy rain before the session left the Nordschleife wet at the start, but conditions slowly improved during the session. The BMW driver later set the fastest lap of the session with a 9:19.884 aboard the #1 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo, finishing ahead of Laurin Heinrich in the #24 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.

Third fastest was Thomas Preining in the #911 Manthey Racing Porsche, while Klaus Bachler placed fourth in the #44 Falken Motorsports Porsche.

Daniel Juncadella completed the top five in the #3 Verstappen.com Racing Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3. The #84 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Patric Niederhauser followed in sixth position.

Seventh fastest was Marek Boeckmann in the #26 PROsport Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Nico Menzel placed eighth in the #17 Dunlop Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Evo.

Rounding out the top ten were Christian Engelhart in the #7 Konrad Motorsport Lamborghini and Dries Vanthoor in the #99 ROWE Racing BMW.

There were also several incidents and penalties during the session. The #80 Winward Mercedes-AMG, which topped Qualifying 1, spun at Hatzenbach with Luca Stolz behind the wheel.

Meanwhile, the #18 Lionspeed Porsche, which finished 12th fastest in the hands of Jake Hill, will receive a 45-second stop-and-hold penalty in the race for not respecting a Code 60.

The #55 Dinamic GT Porsche will also have to serve a 30-second penalty on the opening lap for not respecting speed limits during Qualifying 2.

The #67 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 EVO did not return to action after suffering an engine problem during Qualifying 1.

Top Qualifying is next on the schedule, with the first session set to begin at 10:15 CEST.