Blancpain Endurance Series, Nürburgring – Qualifying Report
Pole For VDS, Despite Collision

(All names of drivers are as per the timing screens, but do not necessarily correspond with who is actually in the car at any point)

The first of the three 15-minute sessions began at 09:15 with the temperature a rather cool 7° C. This led to a rather unnerving moment for one of the Lamborghinis, which spun on its way out of the pitlane and ended up facing the wrong way in the middle of the start/finish straight. Fortunately, the nearest car was only just exiting the final turn and so the spinner had time to sheepishly perform a u-turn and get on his way.

Christopher Haase set the early pace in the #1 WRT Audi, with a 2:00.563, but it wasn’t long before this time was dropping out of the top ten. Davide Rigon set the new benchmark – 1:58.601 – halfway through the session in the #71 Kessel Racing Ferrari, almost a second clear of Bas Leinders in the #3 Marc VDS BMW and Marc Hennerici in the #75 ProSpeed Porsche.

The #37 DB Motorsport BMW which was badly damaged during the Bronze Driver test on Saturday morning and missed the rest of the day was back in action and running well; Canadian driver Andrew Danilyw setting a 12th-fastest 2:00.632.

After a short break, the second session got underway, with Nico Verdonck heading the session times with a 1:59.559 in the #5 Boutsen Ginion McLaren. The two-driver cars were also joining in.

Just a few minutes in, however, David Jones hit the kerbs hard in the #90 Preci-Spark Mercedes and slammed sideways into the tyre wall. The driver was unhurt, but the session was red-flagged while the necessary repairs to the scene were undertaken and resumed just before 10:00. The Mercedes had suffered left-hand damage, but it was unclear as to whether it was done for the day.

Verdonck’s time was the fifth fastest of the combined times at this point, while Enzo Ide improved the #50 AF Corse Ferrari to tenth overall with a 1:59.674.

Mathias Lauda went top of the session times with five to go in the #66 Vita4One BMW, and then improved again (to 1:58.716 – second fastest overall) after Christopher Mies and Edward Sandström briefly went quicker. Olivier Pla then joined in the fun to go third fastest in the #83 SM Challenge Porsche, but then Stefan Gattuso went quicker than anyone so far to set provisional pole at 1:58.453. Grégory Guilvert went to second with a 1:58.602 in the #40 Saintéloc Audi, but Lauda had enough in reserve to improve once more in the #66 Z4 to retake second with a 1:58.493.

Ide also improved – to 1:58.696 – to set fifth in the session and the combined times, leaving the #50 458 as the leading PRO-AM car at this point.

The final 15 minutes began to tick down at 10:14. The #21 MTECH Ferrari only arrived back at the garage at 10:13, with the screen instructing Mike Edmonds to report to the Race Director immediately, suggesting Duncan Cameron had done an extra lap after the flag!

The TV cameras were trained on Valentino Rossi’s #46 Kessel Ferrari, but he wouldn’t be challenging for pole. Instead, it was a case of waiting for the first quick laps from the quicker drivers to get an indication of how things may pan out in the final ten minutes.

Rene Rast set the bar at 1:58.013 in the #13 Phoenix Racing Audi, but just seconds later Matt Griffin took the MTECH Ferrari to the top with a 1:57.708. But this time wasn’t going to be enough and within half a minute the Irish driver was back down to fifth.

Rast had improved his own time to 1:56.848 and was a third of a second clear of Laurens Vanthoor in the #2 WRT Audi. Frank Kechele was third in the #66 BMW and Peter Kox fourth in the #24 Reiter Gallardo – top PRO-Am at this point.

With just under half of the session remaining, Maxime Martin went top in the #3 BMW with a 1:56.639, while Jeroen Bleekemolen took the #18 Black Falcon Mercedes to fifth. Richard Westbrook had a scary moment at T1 with five minutes to go when he came across a slow Ferrari – he did his best to avoid contact, but the two had a brief coming together; but at the very same spot a minute later a potentially more significant collision occurred. The #3 BMW of Martin ran wide at the turn and the #2 Audi of Vanthoor went by. Martin rejoined the track on the inside of the Audi, but as the two cars headed towards the next left-hander, they came together with some force and both spun. The BMW headed back to the pits, but the Audi pulled off a few meters after the corner. The incident was under investigation as the session ended.

Martin had held on to pole (subject to any potential penalty), with Rast second and Kechele third. Kox took PRO-AM pole in seventh overall, with Griffin second just a tenth later. The #34 Pro GT Porsche of Anthony Beltoise was third in class and 12th overall. The #98 JB Motorsport Audi took pole in the GTR category with a 2:00.116, 39th fastest, from Daniel Roos.

“I went wide and tried to cross but then we touched,” said Martin of the contact. “It’s not a big problem – it happens!

“We are fighting for the championship first and the win second, but the win would be nice. It’s a good track for the BMW – otherwise we wouldn’t have got pole – but anything can happen in a three-hour race.”