Kevin Estre has secured pole position in the ‘Grello’ at the 53rd running of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring. The 36-year-old Frenchman was also the fastest in the #911 Manthey Porsche on Friday in the battle for the final grid positions in top qualifying. With a time of 8:12.741 minutes, he was almost 1.2 seconds faster than Thomas Neubauer in the #45 Rinaldi-Ferrari, who completed an all-French front row in 8:13.909 minutes. Estre thus secured the Glickenhaus Trophy for the pole man for the first time, which will be handed over tomorrow before the start of the race. Three-time fastest driver in practice, Maro Engel, finished third this time in the #14 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG (8:14.233 minutes). For Manthey, the pole position of the ‘Grello’ is a perfect starting position to crown himself the sole record winner again with a possible eighth overall victory.
Estre: ‘Did my job’
"There's nothing better than driving a lap of the Nordschleife alone in the “Grello”, with new tyres and no traffic. It's incredible,‘ said Kevin Estre: ’I'm really looking forward to the weekend. We have great conditions, maybe a bit too warm for the tyres, but good for the fans. We'll let Thomas Preining drive the start tomorrow, I've done my job for the weekend."
Six different manufacturers in the top eight places
Thomas Neubauer was not entirely satisfied: "It was a very good qualifying session for us, but I'm a little disappointed. Second place makes you a bit of a loser. But of course, second place is still a very good result for us. We have worked very hard over the past few months. But the main focus is on tomorrow, on the race." Maro Engel explained: "It hasn't been an easy weekend for us so far. The team has done a very good job and given me a very good car. Nevertheless, the gap to the front is bigger than we would like it to be. But anything is certainly possible from third place. Being at the front also minimises the risk at the start." In total, there are three different brands in the top three positions and, with one Lamborghini, Audi and Aston Martin each, six in the top eight grid positions.
Red flag after Laurens Vanthoor's accident
Laurens Vanthoor caused a major scare and a red flag. The Belgian, who had only managed to get his team into top qualifying at the last minute on Thursday evening, lost control of the #16 Scherer Porsche on his first flying lap in the Aremberg area and crashed into the crash barrier at high speed. After a check-up at the Medical Centre, the doctors treating the driver gave the all-clear for the time being, but the car is no longer operational and will not take part in the race. Top qualifying was restarted at 16:00 after a longer break and repair work on the crash barrier. Qualifying 3 then started, in which the final grid positions were determined from the ninth row onwards.
Tickets still available
When the starting grid for the 24h Nürburgring is drawn on Saturday, the ‘race of the year’ can finally get underway at 16:00. But before the 136 participants embark on the spectacular fight through the day and this time the shortest night, a varied programme awaits the spectators at the Nürburgring. The thrilling motorsport on the track starts at 9.00 am with the ADAC 24h-Classic. After the warm-up for the main race at 12.20 pm, the touring car legends will contest their third race of the weekend at 1.20 pm. Tickets are still available at the box offices and digitally here.
Comprehensive live reports on NITRO, YouTube and the 24h homepage
If you want to follow the action at the Ring from home, free TV partner NITRO is the right place to go, starting its 28-hour non-stop live broadcast at 13:00 and aiming to extend its own world record on the occasion of the tenth anniversary at the Ring. The official live streams on YouTube and on the official event website will also be on air non-stop.