Christian Krognes once again demonstrated his skills on the Nordschleife in second qualifying on Sunday for the 2026 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers, setting the fastest lap. On a drying track, the Norwegian driver in the Walkenhorst Aston Martin #34 (Krognes/Thiim) posted a best time of 8:18.515 minutes, closing out the session.
After heavy rain overnight, the track was wet at the start of qualifying, with cool temperatures of 5°C. Due to the weather conditions, the session began 15 minutes later than scheduled.
Toward the end of the session, the track began to dry, allowing lap times to improve multiple times. Initially, Max Verstappen in the Winward Mercedes #3 (Verstappen/Auer) was the first to break the nine-minute mark.
However, in the final phase of qualifying, the Formula 1 driver and his team-mate Lucas Auer stayed in the pits, causing the #3 car to drop back to 32nd position. Despite this, Verstappen remained satisfied.
“The car is working really well,” the Dutchman said. “At the same time, I’m still learning more myself when it comes to the setup – we’re still trying small things to find even more pace. The other teams are also working on fine-tuning and balance, and that’s exactly what we’re doing too. Hopefully everything will come together for the main race.”
#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Dennis Marschall in the Kondo Ferrari #45 (Perel/Marschall/Vermeulen) then significantly beat Verstappen’s time, before lap times tumbled rapidly in the final minutes as several teams switched from wet tires to slicks.
In the end, Krognes came out on top. Second place went to the Dunlop Porsche #17 (Picariello/Boccolacci), while the third-fastest time was set by the HRT Ford #67 (Mies/Vervisch/Scherer/Caresani).
For the top-class cars in SP9 (GT3), SP-X, and SP-Pro, the qualifying result is not decisive. Their starting positions will be determined in the individual time trial from the top qualifying session, which starts at 10:40 am local time. At that time, it will not be Verstappen but his team-mate Auer driving the #3 car.
The second race of the 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers will start at 1:00 pm CET. Before the race, a minute of silence will be held in memory of driver Juha Miettinen, who tragically lost his life yesterday.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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