Audi Sport Team Phoenix sits on top of the time charts following a frantic first round of qualifying for the Nürburgring 24.
The 1 Audi R8 LMS driven by defending race winners Christopher Haase, Rene Rast, Markus Winkelhock and Christian Mamerow posted a best time of 8:29.806 in the final moments of the wet-turned-dry session.
The Audi’s time was just 0.089 seconds quicker than the No. 25 BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3 in second, with the No. 29 Audi Sport Team WRT entry completing the top-three overall, and less than three-tenths behind.
WRT’s sister No. 28 Audi and the No. 006 Aston Martin Racing Vantage rounded out the top-five overall and in the SP9 GT3 class.
The four-hour session began in wet conditions before slowly drying out in the third hour, although times did not improve immediately despite some teams being on slicks.
It took until the final 10 minutes of the session for times to drop dramatically, although nobody was able to match the 8:29.079 lap set by the No. 20 Schubert BMW from the afternoon’s Free Practice session.
A second qualifying session is on tap Saturday at 9:30 a.m. local, followed by the Top-30 Qualifying later in the afternoon, which will set the grid for the leading GT3 cars.
