Nürburg: Robert Renauer (31, Germany, Precote Herberth Motorsport) secured pole position in the first race by setting a new ADAC GT Masters qualifying record for the Nürburgring sprint circuit. David Jahn (25, Germany, KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard) achieved the first Porsche lock-out of the front row by posting the second fastest lap for the race against the clock. Supercars from five different manufacturers booked the five positions immediately behind the two Porsches at the head of the field. SPORT1 will broadcast the first race live on free-to-air TV at 13:00.
"We never thought we would secure pole position after Friday practice, which makes us all the more delighted," said Robert Renauer. "We struggled to sort out problems with the steering and had to make some more adjustments to setup. It all went well in the end. The car felt very good. My fastest lap was really perfect. I hope that we can translate our excellent grid position into a win in the race as we managed to do when we were at the head of the line-up in the first race at the Lausitzring."
The field posted fast times right from the start of the twenty-minute session. The previous qualifying record for the Eifel circuit of 1:28.082 minutes set by Klaus Bachler (25, A) in 2015 was broken again and again. Finally, Robert Renauer managed to set a new record time of 1:27.181 in the Porsche he shares with Martin Ragginger (28, A), which also gave them pole position in the first race. David Jahn, Kévin Estre's (27, F) team-mate was second with a deficit of just over two tenths of a second.
The two young Mercedes drivers, Nicolai Sylvest (19, DK) and Nikolaj Rogivue (20, CH, both AMG Team Zakspeed) finished third and secured their best qualifying result of the current season. Lamborghini duo Norbert Siedler (33, A) and Jaap van Lagen (39, NL, both HB Racing WDS Bau) in P4 were also delighted with their best grid position so far in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters. Jordan Pepper (20, ZA) and Daniel Abt (23, Germany, both Bentley Team ABT) in the Bentley Continental and championship leaders Jules Gounon (21, F) and Daniel Keilwitz (27, Germany, both Callaway Competition) in a Corvette C7 will share the third row.
The best-placed Audi R8, driven by Markus Pommer (25, Germany) and Xavier Maassen (36, NL, both Aust Motorsport) will line up in P7 on the grid on Saturday afternoon. Fabian Hamprecht (21, Germany) & Christer Jöns (29, Germany, both Bentley Team ABT) in another Bentley, Connor De Phillippi (23, USA) & Christopher Mies (27, Germany, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport), who are currently second overall in the standings in the Audi and the Lamborghini pairing of Luca Stolz (21, Germany) & Gerhard Tweraser (27, A, both GRT Grasser-Racing-Team) completed the Top Ten.
Fans wishing to experience the ADAC GT Masters live at the racetrack can purchase tickets for all fixtures for the price of 20 euros, which includes access to the paddock, from www.adac.de/motorsport.