Former DTM driver Maro Engel has taken the pole position for the Nurburgring 24h-Race pole for the second year running. In the Top Qualifying 2 session for the 48thADAC TOTAL 24hRace, Engel and his HRT-Mercedes-AMG #4 were the only ones who succeeded in breaking the nine-minute barrier on the wet 25.738-likometre combination of Nürburgring Nordschleife and GP circuit, thus being 4.930 seconds faster than Luca Ludwig with his Octane-126-Ferrar#26 that crossed the line in 9:02,814minutes. With his third pole, following the ones he clinched in 2016 and last year, Engel also secured the Glickenhaus Trophy -he will be awarded with 45 minutes prior to the start of the race –for the fastest driver at ‘The Ring’. At 15:30 he will leadthe 97-car field intothe Eifel Marathon.
“I’m happy,” beamed Engel. “The conditions out there were tough, with wet and with dry sections. So, you have a rather high pulsewhen selecting the tyre for your fast laps. But I can say to my team: the choice was perfect,” added Engel who also had been the fastest in Top Qualifying 1 that was held for the first time, thus qualifyinghis team for TQ 2. “When Iwas already out, the team informed me via radio that the Ferrari was really fast and that I had to give my very best. So I went for it, went flat out in the Tiergarten area, hoped that everything would fit perfectly –and it did.”
The race will be covered live at the website www.24h-rennen.deby dint of live stream, live ticker and live timing with English language commentary by the team at Radio Show Limited, the voice of Radio Le Mans.
The second place Ferrari was raced by Luca Ludwig. “In my second row I had fantastic grip and could push to the max, made no mistakes and the lap was clean and fast,” said Ludwig who contested his qualifying laps on intermediates. He came close to adding a second Ferrari pole to the one the Italian brand clinched in 2001. So, it’s the third time that a Mercedes-AMG will start from the pole into the 24h Race –and all the three times thanks to Engel. Raffaele Marciello inthe Getspeed-Mercedes-AMG #9 and Dani Juncadella the 10Q-Racing-Mercedes-AMG #22 took another two vehicles representing the Stuttgart based brand to the second row on the grid. Altogether, five Mercedes’AMG and four BMWsmade it to the top 10, with Nick Yellolv in the ROWE-BMW #99 being the fastest in fifth position. Prior to the final battle for the pole, 17 cars contested the Top Qualifying 1 that was held for the very first time offered the drivers the opportunity to secure one of four positions still available for TQ 2. In extremely changeable weather conditions, Engel and Juncadellawere joined by Dennis Olsen in theKCMG-Porsche#18 and Frank Stippler inthe Phoenix-Audi#5. In the Top Qualifying 2, however, Olsen was stopped on his information lap and so, Alex Müller in the Frikadelli-Porsche #30 was the best-placed Porsche driver and Mirko Bortolottiwith the #3 secured the best Audi grid position.
With N24 Media
ADAC TOTAL 24h Nürburgring 2020 – Foto: Gruppe C Photography; #004 Mercedes-AMG GT3, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT: Adam Christodoulou, Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Manuel Metzger
