ADAC GT Masters·7.8.2016

Two Porsches lock out front row again: The ADAC GT Masters at the Nürburgring

Nürburg: Porsche driver Kévin Estre (27, F) secured KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard's first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters in qualifying for the second race at the Nürburgring. The 911 of Robert Renauer (31, Germany) and Martin Ragginger (28, A, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) will also line up on the front row in the second race of the Super Sports Car League. Once again, the field was very tightly bunched. In the battle against the clock, just one second covered the top 18 cars. SPORT1 will broadcast the second race live on free-to-air TV at 13:00.

"Things are going really well for us here at the Nürburgring," said Estre, who won Saturday's race along with team-mate David Jahn (25, Germany). "We've shown today that we can hack it in qualifying as well! The traffic was very dense, so it was not so easy to find a clear track, but I succeeded, and my fastest lap was just perfect. P1 is definitely a good position to be in for the race, but winning again won't be easy. We'll give it our best shot."

The sun beat down from a clear sky over the Eifel as teams and drivers took part in the 20-minute session to secure the top positions on the grid for today's second race. Kévin Estre posted the fastest lap, setting a new ADAC GT Masters qualifying record for the 3.629-kilometre Nürburgring sprint track. His time of 1.27.046 minutes shaved a good tenth of a second off that of fellow Porsche driver Robert Renauer, who had beaten the old record in yesterday's first qualifying session. This first pole for Estre is not only his maiden pole position in the ADAC GT Masters but is also KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard's first pole position in the Super Sports Car League.

Porsche may have locked out the front row, but the grid positions behind them are completely dominated by Audi. Currently second overall in the standings, Connor De Phillippi (23, USA) and Christopher Mies (27, Germany, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) will be in third place, flanked by series newcomer Dennis Busch (28, Germany) and the first ADAC GT Masters champion from 2007, Christopher Haase (28, Germany, both Car Collection Motorsport).

Florian Stoll (35, Germany) & Laurens Vanthoor (25, B, both kfzteile24 APR Motorsport) will be in fifth position. Vanthoor actually posted second best time in qualifying but has a three-place grid penalty in his Audi R8 for making an unauthorised manoeuvre on the track. ADAC GT Masters rookie Nicolaj Møller Madsen (23, DK) & Markus Winkelhock (36, Germany, both Phoenix Racing) and Peter Hoevenaars (21, NL) & Frédéric Vervisch (30, B, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) in P6 and 7 complete the phalanx of Audis.

Andreas Weishaupt (43, Germany) & Marco Holzer (28, Germany, both Bentley Team ABT) booked P8 in the best-placed Bentley Continental. Defending champion Luca Ludwig (27, Germany) & Sebastian Asch (30, Germany, both AMG Team Zakspeed) were ninth in their Mercedes-AMG. Trophy championship leader Rolf Ineichen (38, CH) and Lamborghini team-mate Christian Engelhart (29, Germany, both GRT Grasser-Racing-Team) also made it into 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.