Frank Stippler gave Audi pole position for the 2013 Nurburgring 24 Hours as he outpaced Pedro Lamy’s Aston Martin in the top 40 qualifying shootout.
Stippler’s 8m17.212s lap in the R8 he shares with Michael Ammermuller, Johannes Stuck and Ferdinand Stuck beat the Aston by 1.1 seconds.
Phoenix had two cars in the top five, with Marcel Fassler placing the #1 Audi fifth.
Lamy is part of an all-star crew in the Aston, joined by Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Allan Simonsen.
Chris Mamerow took the Abt/Mamerow Audi to third, with Richard Lietz the top Porsche runner for Manthey in fourth.
Leading Mercedes was the #9 Black Falcon car, which Sean Edwards placed sixth, while Maxime Martin was fastest BMW driver in seventh for Marc VDS.
The race runs from Sunday to Monday afternoon.
