While the title contenders qualified second, fourth and eighth, Porsche driver Klaus Bachler took pole position for the final race of the German GT Championship at the Nürburgring.
Thick fog caused the final qualifying session of the season to be delayed. Instead of the scheduled 09:00, the start of the session was put back to 10:45. The focus was mainly on the drivers with title aspirations. Of them, Porsche driver and defending champion Michael Ammermüller (SSR Performance) secured the best starting position, qualifying second in wet conditions. The Bavarian and his partner Mathieu Jaminet missed out on fellow Porsche driver Klaus Bachler’s (Precote Herberth Motorsport) fastest time by 0.257 seconds. Thanks to the two bonus points for second place, Ammermüller/Jaminet have closed to within 23 points of championship leaders Ricardo Feller and Christopher Mies, who were fourth fastest in their Audi. 25 points are up for grabs in the race.
The second-placed pair in the table, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz (Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT) were eighth – a tough position to start from in the battle for the championship. They trail leaders Feller/Mies by 17 points.
The top of the timings sheet was dominated by Porsche. The lead changed hands several times in the closing minutes of the session, until Bachler clinched top spot with a time of 1:35.470 minutes. For the Austrian, who starts alongside Simona De Silvestro in a 911 GT3 R, this was the first Pirelli Pole Position Award of the season and the fourth pole of his career. Bachler received three championship points for his efforts.
“Mega! I am very happy,” said a delighted Bachler. “It has not been an easy year for me, so it is nice to end the season this way. We made the right decision regarding the set-up and the tyres. I actually expected us to end up on slicks, but it started to drizzle in the middle of the session. At that point, I said that we would stay on wets. We have new tyres for the race, and it is always best to start from the front. I want to end the race in front too, but we have a lot of title contenders behind us, so a lot can happen. Let’s see how it goes.”
Slotting in between the title contenders from SSR and Land in third place were Audi drivers Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts from Team WRT with a time of 1:35.752. Fifth place went to Joel Eriksson and Marco Holzer in a Porsche 911 GT3 R run by Küs Team Bernhard.
The title-deciding 14th race of the season starts at 15:45. NITRO’s live coverage begins at 15:00.