Top Qualifying: Best-placed BMW starts the Nürburgring 24 Hours from 13th place.

Nürburgring. The grid positions for the 2019 Nürburgring 24 Hours (GER) have been decided. In total, five BMW M6 GT3 made it into Top Qualifying, in which Christian Krognes (NOR) set the fastest time by any BMW driver, stopping the clock at 8:15.165 minutes in the Walkenhorst Motorsport #101 car. Pole position went to the #2 Mercedes, driven by Maro Engel (GER).

Augusto Farfus (BRA) put the #42 BMW M6 GT3 in 16^th place for BMW Team Schnitzer. The first ROWE Racing car starts from 20^th, the #99 car, with Jesse Krohn (FIN) at the wheel. The team’s second BMW M6 GT3 starts directly behind him: Tom Blomqvist (GBR) was 21^st in the #98. The second Walkenhorst car, the #100 with Jordan Tresson (FRA) in the cockpit, starts from 26^th. The #33 FALKEN Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 came 31^st place after to qualifying sessions.

In the SP10 class, the #71 BMW M4 GT4, run by Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport, secured first place. Directly behind them is the #77 car, driven by 2018 BMW Sports Trophy winners Philipp Leisen, Danny Brink and Christopher Rink, alongside the experienced Dirk Adorf (all GER).

In the Cup5 class, which is exclusively for BMW M240i Racing, the #240 car and drivers Yannick Fübrich, Daniel Zils, Norbert Fischer (all GER) and Oskar Sandberg (NOR) lead the field after qualifying.

Quotes after Top Qualifying for the Nürburgring 24 Hours:

Christian Krognes (#101 BMW M6 GT3, Walkenhorst Motorsport, 13^th place): “After our victory in the qualification race, we expected to be closer to the front of the field. The times set by the competition have come as something of a surprise. I am pleased to have set the fastest time by a BMW. That is one piece of good news after what was, on the whole, a difficult qualifying. We have some work to do in the race.”

Augusto Farfus (#42 BMW M6 GT3, BMW Team Schnitzer, 16^th place): “Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding with the team over the radio. As a result, I only did one flying lap but we could not have matched the times at the top anyway. It is a shame, as we showed throughout the preparations for this race what our cars are capable of. Some of our rivals improved massively in qualifying. We will now focus on a long race.”

Jesse Krohn (#99 BMW M6 GT3, ROWE Racing, 20^th place): “The car actually felt good. We did not make any real mistakes, but just lost time here and there. I don’t really know where we are supposed to pick up seven seconds. However, one thing is clear, we will push and fight hard to make it a good race.”

Tom Blomqvist (#98 BMW M6 GT3, ROWE Racing, 21^st place): “That was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to drive in the Top Qualifying at the Nordschleife. It was a cool experience. My laps were good, even if I did lose some time in one or two places. Generally speaking, however, we did not have the pace to set the fastest lap times.”

Jordan Tresson (#100 BMW M6 GT3, Walkenhorst Motorsport, 26^th place): “We are a long way off pole position, and the tyres were not where I wanted them. So I struggled with grip. P26 is not what we had hoped for. However, we have a 24-hour race ahead of us, so we will remain positive and see what we can do tomorrow and on Sunday.”