BMW Team Schubert will start Saturday’s ADAC Zurich 24h-Race at the Nürburgring from the pole following the successful debut of a shootout-style qualifying on the legendary Nordschleife.
Nürburgring expert Uwe Alzen peddled his No. 19 BMW Z4 GT3 to a best time of 8:18.382 around the 16-mile circuit, edging out the No. 26 Mamerow Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra of Christian Mamerow by 1.319 seconds.
Alzen’s pole-run came in the second of two timed laps during “Top 40” qualifying, which stacked a combination of pre-qualified cars from VLN races and entries that earned a place from the first two qualifying sessions on Thursday evening and Friday morning.
“I think the [Top 40] was a pleasure for the spectators in the grandstands and it was also nice to drive from a drivers' side," Alzen told SPEED.com. "When you can drive without any traffic or any slower cars. I think it was a good idea.”
The pole for the factory assisted BMW came as no fluke, as the Schubert Motorsport-entered Z4 GT3s have been among the pace-setting cars here this week in the top SP9 category.
Both Alzen and co-driver Jorg Muller will be seeking their third overall win on Sunday, the last having come together with Schnitzer’s factory M3 GT2 in 2010. The duo will be joined by defending American Le Mans Series GT co-champion Dirk Muller and Dirk Adorf in the No. 19 entry.
Christian Mamerow was unable to improve on his 8:19.701 time set during his first qualifying lap, but it was good enough for the front row start for he and co-drivers Christian Abt, Michael Ammermuller and Armin Hahne in the customer-run No. 26 Mamerow Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra.
"It was clear to me right away that the first lap would be it, because the tire had the best grip then," Mamerow said. "I was astonished how many corners I was able to take without any obstructions in this qualification mode. The track conditions were perfect and the squad did a really good job. I felt comfortable - and that’s how a good time resulted."
Third overall and in class went to the No. 15 Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of N24 debutant Sean Edwards, who was impressively only 1.668 seconds behind the pair of Nordschleife veterans.
"With three manufacturers in the top-three qualifying within 1.6 seconds is obviously a good balance of performance," Edwards said. "I'm happy to be here and to be in the top-three in my first 24-hour race here. It doesn't really mean anything for the 24 hours but it's nice for the team to be up here.”
Edwards, who will share his gull-winged beast with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Manuel Metzger and Ralf Schall, feels they’ll be strong in the wet. That could be crucial this weekend, as there's a 90 percent chance of thunderstorms for tomorrow afternoon and likely extending into Sunday.
Up until now, the weather has been cooperative, with practice and qualifying sessions having been dry, although often under overcast skies.
The No. 65 Hankook Team Heico Mercedes of Kenneth Heyer, Bernd Schneider, Lance David Arnold and Alex Margaritis will start fourth overall and in class, ahead of the sister Schubert BMW, thanks to Adorf’s 8:20.906 lap time in the two-lap shootout.
Quickest of the Porsche contingent was the No. 11 Wochenspiegel Team Manthey 911 GT3 R of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas, Lucas Luhr and Richard Lietz in sixth, while the factory No. 2 Audi Sport Team Phoenix R8 LMS ultra will roll off eighth on the grid, some two seconds slower than the privateer entry.
Of note, the No. 22 ROWE Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, co-driven by ALMS star Klaus Graf, qualified tenth in the hands of Thomas Jager.
