One week on from a historic hatrick for Scuderia Ferrari at Le Mans, Porsche and co. look to defend their glory on home soil. It’s the one and only 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, and it promises to be a brilliant one at that. But who will be victorious in the most unpredictable race of the year?

We may still be two days away from the showpiece event, forming the second leg of the so-called ’72 Hours of June’ but with qualifying already heating up, here’s the breakdown of how Thursday panned out.

In the day’s first of two sessions it was Audi at the fore, with the aptly numbered #1 Scherer Sport PHX car taking top honours after setting a competitive 8.14, nearly five seconds ahead of Black Falcon’s #48 Porsche. Don’t be fooled by the large gaps apparent in that first session though, as they may fall during the second of today’s sessions. The incentive here? For the SP9-Pro entries, a top five placing after both sessions have been run will secure a spot in tomorrow’s Top Qualifying pole-shootout. And in a race where code 60’s and slow zones will no doubt litter the track over the course of the race, a good qualifying position could prove crucial.

Walkenhorst Motorsport meanwhile already found themselves on the back foot after their #30 car both spun on the GP layout and also picked up a drive through penalty for speeding in a Code 60. After the first session the Aston Martin Vantage crew of Stefan Aust, Christian Bollrath, Jorg Breuer and Henry Walkenhorst himself were down in 45th overall.

Of the other local teams, Falken Motorsport’s #33 of Julien Andlauer, Nico Menzel, Alessio Pircariello and Sven Muller was as high as fifth after the first session with their Porsche while the sister #44 car was down in eleventh. The Team Bilstein Mercedes #14 ran

The second session began under Golden Hour, as the sunlight illuminated the 20km track as Hasse immediately set a time four seconds faster than his blistering 8.14 from earlier. Behind, the lap times continued to fall as Mirko Mapelli’s #28 Abt Lamborghini went second fastest, his teammate Jordan Pepper sending his own #27 into third. The top four now had all recorded times faster then Hasse’s original 8.14 and the fight for a spot in Top Qualifying hod now officially begun. Meanwhile in SP9 Pro/AM there was an early shock, as the #37 PROSport Racing Aston Martin went into the top five ahead of many pro lineups. What’s even more remarkable is that they were running without the Evo package, so essentially were beating cars seven years their junior. Someone I haven’t yet mentioned is Ford, who return to the top class with a three car assault in partnership with Haupt Racing. Their #65 car is already locked in to Top Qualifying, with Jusuf Owega looking their star man. In both sessions the full time NLS competitor, with the sole Ford entry in that series, set the fastest time of any Mustang GT3.

And I also want to shoutout the #300 Dacia Logan, which makes a return following its heart-crushing DNF during the night at this race two years ago. It’s an amazing effort to get that car back on the grid, the team having to find themselves a brand new chassis to compete with. It’s a great story and a great team that I can’t help but root for. That’s one of the things this race is well known for, and rightfully so: Weird yet irresistible cars you can’t find on any other racetrack in the world, competing for glory in the most gruelling GT race in the world. There’s also a factory-backed Subaru Impreza here, a Volkswagen Beetle Cup car and even a Mini Cooper courtesy of Bulldog Racing. Hyundai and Toyota also have works entries in the TCR and SP-2 categories, the former even bringing double amputee and absolute inspiration Robert Wickens with an Elantra fitted with custom hand-controls. And though Iron Dames are competing at Watkins Glen this weekend, we do still have an all female crew. Watch out for the #146 of WS Racing. In their ranks are NLS and former W Series regular Fabienne Wohlend, N24 class winner from 2021 Carrie Schriener, Janina Schall and Patricija Stalidzane. They’ll be competing in AT3, a eight strong class for TCR cars running alternative fuels and going up against the likes of seven time World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristofferson and Sebastian Vettel’s younger brother Fabian.

Then followed a slew of Code 60’s and slowzones, meaning competitive qualifying laps were effectively put on hold, the only significant change being Kevine Estre hauling his #911 Manthey Porsche up to sixth, just seven tenths off the Pro/Am Aston Martin that remained in fifth position. As the second hour of the session approached, the 19th placed #44 Falken Motorsports Porsche pulled into the garage after crawling round the Grand Prix loop with a slow puncture. Another car suffering a much bigger accident was the #48 Black Falcon Porsche, being sent into the garage with significant damage to the chassis.

Yet even as the session dwindled into night, as code 60’s and slow zones still plastered themselves across the track even into the final minutes the top 5 didn’t change, as only the #16 of Laurens Vanthoor that sat seventh found himself on a last lap charge to get into those crucial five places in Top Qualifying. Halfway through he’d had a mostly clear run, with three personal best sectors and the fastest sector three of the session. This lap was on, and it was the #37 PROsport Aston Martin at the mercy of his speed. More fastest sectors came in as Vanthoor was on a flyer. Across the line, with the clock having hit zero it was all about the scary fast third sector in pitch black conditions. He only needed one second throughout the 182 corners, narrowly avoiding contact with a TCR. But in the end, Vanthoor’s one lap magic saw him go third by sessions end, knocking out the #37 at the last possible opportunity. The five cars that go through to Top Qualifying tomorrow then are Vanthoor and the #16 Scherer Sport Porsche, the defending race winners #1 Scherer Sport PHX Audi, both Abt Lamborghinis, #27 and #28 and finally in fifth place Walkenhorst Motorsport’s #34 Aston Martin sneaking in by just one tenth of a second.

And so Thursday comes to a dramatic close, as we know our fastest 15 cars that will by vying for pole position tomorrow at noon. It’ll be frenetic, and exceptionally exciting and I simply cannot wait. See you tomorrow

Thomas

thumbnail credit – Philipp Ganjon, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons