Sheldon van der Linde (Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS): “We’ve had an excellent day. Our Audi is looking very strong this weekend. We know from past experience that the Nürburgring really suits the R8. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, because we were consistently in the Top Three today. There’s now a bit of pressure on me to secure pole position tomorrow. It’s important that we get a good haul of points tomorrow. If Saturday is hot again, then that should suit our car.”
Christian Engelhart (GRT Grasser Racing Team, Lamborghini Huracán GT3): “We’ve had an excellent Friday. We’re well prepared for tomorrow. As is already very apparent even now, things will be very, very close tomorrow. The small gaps between cars speak for themselves, and the track is short. It will be important to extract the maximum tomorrow in qualifying. We are extremely well positioned.”
Marvin Kirchhöfer (Callaway Competition, Corvette GT3-R): “It’s not easy to assess how today went. We were seventh this morning and somewhere on the second page of the timesheet in the afternoon. It all depended on the tyres you were running. We’ll see tomorrow where we really stand, but it will definitely be more difficult than last time out at the Red Bull Ring and in Most. We’re still optimistic. I’ll be satisfied if we can finish in the Top Seven ultimately.”
Frédéric Vervisch (Aust Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS): “We’re fielding a different car after the accident in the 24-Hours of Spa, so we had a fair bit of rejigging to do. Many thanks to everyone in the team for all the hard work they’ve put in. Today was okay. We improved steadily but want to pull something out of the hat for tomorrow, because it will be very close again. A tenth of a second will certainly mean the difference between six or seven places. We hope to have a good race.”
Dominik Schwager (HB Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3): “We didn’t go out on new tyres, and so, were not all that far up the field, which is what we expected. Since everyone tested here on Thursday, we decided to keep back a fresh set of tyres in reserve. Let’s hope if it pays off, because you never know what might happen at the start. Still, I think that all the teams will have to keep an eye on their tyres in view of the high temperatures. We modified the car a bit in the afternoon to see how it runs over the distance. Here’s hoping it works out for us tomorrow in qualifying.”
Robert Renauer (Precote Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R): “Today wasn’t easy for us. We worked a lot on set-up and had a great deal to sort out. We hope to do better in tomorrow’s qualifying than we did today. We’ve still got a few changes we need to make.”