The Equipe Verschuur Renault R.S.01 GT3 (#9, Harrie Kolen / Erik van Loon / Mike Verschuur) has sealed its second consecutive pole position in the 24H SERIES, albeit after an unorthodox qualifying session at the inaugural 16H HOCKENHEIMRING.
The Dutch team, which also started from pole at the previous round in Monza, posted its first flying lap after much of the allotted 30-minute session had elapsed. Incredibly, with closest GT3 rival CP Racing also opting to leave its flying lap until the closing moments, 991-class runners DUWO Racing and NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing were still classified 1st and 2nd overall in GT qualifying until well after the session’s midway point.
In the end, Mike Verschuur posted his fastest lap – a 1m 39.288s – on his final tour of the 4.574km Hockenheimring during GT qualifying, a time almost a full second quicker than that of the CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Joe Foster / Shane Lewis). The latter will start 2nd on its first 24H SERIES race since January.
The DUWO Racing Porsche 911-II Cup (#909, Andrey Mukovoz / Sergey Peregudov / Stanislav Sidoruk) ultimately got the drop on the NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing Porsche 991-II Cup (#991, Gijs Bessem / Harry Hilders / Marcel van Berlo), and thus secured 991-class pole position. Both will line up on the second row of the grid for the start of tomorrow’s race.
The Speed Lover Porsche 991-II (#978, Eric Mouez / Jeroen Kreeft / Rolf Lietart / Dominique Bastien), which currently leads the 24H SERIES Europe 991-class standings, will start 5th overall, and shares the third row of the Hockenheim grid with the PROsport Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 (#401, Nico Verdonck / Rodrigue Gillion / Tom Heeren), the fastest of the GT4 runners.
The German squad’s nearest rival, the Team Avia Sorg Rennsport BMW M4 GT4 (#451, Olaf Meyer / Björn Simon / Heiko Eichenberg / José Manuel de los Milagros), makes its first series start since the season-opening 24H DUBAI and lines up 7th overall.
This weekend’s 16H HOCKENHEIMRING, the first official CREVENTIC endurance event to be held at the home of the Formula 1 German Grand Prix, is the fourth round of this year’s 24H SERIES.
Points amassed during this weekend’s event will count towards both the 24H SERIES Europe and the 24H SERIES Continents championship standings.