The #24 Gamota BMW #23 secured pole position on Saturday during qualifying for the first race of the 2026 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers, surprising many of the favoured teams.
David Jahn set a time of 8m09.488s early in the session, which was temporarily interrupted, and none of the rivals could beat it.
The #3 Winward Mercedes of Max Verstappen and Lucas Auer had originally qualified sixth, but was handed a three-place grid penalty by the stewards following an investigation, leaving it in ninth place.
Auer collided with the Porsche Cayman #941 from Team Adrenalin in the Hohe Acht section of the track during a failed overtaking attempt. The Austrian tried to pass on the inside in a right-hand corner, but the Porsche driver stayed on the racing line. Contact was made, and the Cayman spun.
“The driver of car #941 stated that he stayed on the racing line and did not notice the approaching faster car #03,” the stewards noted.
“The driver of car #03 stated that he saw the gap and misjuged the situation. Furthermore he directly apologized to #941 after his stint. The Stewards felt that a drop of 3 grid positions for the next race the car will participate is the appropriate penalty.”
The fastest time from the Gamota BMW wasn’t the only surprise in qualifying. In second place was the #11 Schnitzelalm Mercedes, a Pro-Am entry in the GT3 SP9 class, which is not expected to contend for overall victory in the race.
Third place went to the #47 KCMG Mercedes #47, which had taken pole position in the Nurburgring Endurance Series (NLS) just a week earlier. Fourth place was claimed by another Pro-Am GT3 car, the #48 Black Falcon Porsche #48.
#3 Winward Mercedes
Photo by: Speedpictures
The #80 Winward Mercedes took fifth ahead of the #84 Abt Lamborghini and the #16 Scherer-Phx Audi, while the top 10 was completed by the #7 Konrad Lamborghini, the penalised #3 Mercedes and the #134 Muhlner Porsche. Manthey Porsche’s #911 “Grello” narrowly missed out, finishing 12th.
Sixteen minutes after the start, qualifying was red-flagged for around 50 minutes. The stoppage was caused by an accident involving Anders Buchardt in the #36 Walkenhorst Aston Martin #39 at Adenauer Forst. In the left-hand corner at the entry to that section, the Norwegian driver hit the kerb too hard on the inside, lost control of the car, and crashed into the barriers.
Buchardt escaped the accident uninjured. However, due to significant damage requiring repairs to the guardrails, and because there was enough buffer time in Saturday’s schedule, race control decided to suspend the session.
The first race, lasting four hours, will start at 17:30 CEST (16:30 BST).
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– The Autosport.com Team
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