ADAC GT Masters·5.8.2017

Stolz takes pole position at Nürburgring: 63 thousandths of a second decide pole

Nürburg: Once again, mere thousandths of a second decided the fight for pole position in the ADAC GT Masters. In qualifying for Saturday's race in the Super Sports Car League at the Nürburgring, Mercedes-AMG driver Luca Stolz (22, DEU, Mercedes-AMG Team ZAKSPEED) finished 63 thousandths of a second up on Mathieu Jaminet (22, F, KÜS Team75 Bernhard) in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. SPORT1 will broadcast the ninth race of the season live and in full at 1.00pm. It can also be watched online as live stream on sport1.de, DAZN, adac.de/motorsport and youtube.com/adac.

Stolz went to the top of the timesheets with a 1:27.414 minutes after the lead had changed hands several times during the first few minutes of the session. Rain beginning to fall seven minutes before the end of qualifying prevented any subsequent improvement in times. This was the second pole position of the year for Stolz after taking P1 at the Lausitzring and Mercedes-AMG team ZAKSPEED's maiden pole in their home fixture.

"We struggled a bit on Friday," said Stolz. "But we stayed calm and continued to work in a focused manner. Our set-up for qualifying was good. I went out at the beginning of the session, and that was certainly the key factor in taking pole position. And then around the middle of the quali, the rain took us all by surprise. Fortunately, I'd already posted a decent lap by then."

Mathieu Jaminet qualified for the first row in his Porsche 911 for the first time since securing the top spot in the season opener at Oschersleben. "That was a good qualifying," said the Frenchman. "The circuit suits our car. Let's wait and see how the weather is in the race. It's gonna be exciting, for sure!"

Mercedes-AMG driver Sebastian Asch (31, DEU) secured third place on the grid with his partner Lucas Auer, who is competing in the ADAC GT Masters for the second time. Fourth place went to championship leader Jules Gounon (22, F, Callaway Competition) in the Corvette C7. Markus Pommer (26, DEU, Aust Motorsport) finished fifth in the best-placed Audi R8 ahead of Robert Renauer (32, DEU, Precote Herberth Motorsport) in another Porsche.

Tickets can be ordered from the ADAC GT Masters' official ticket shop at adac.de/motorsport and are available on the day from the ticket office.