Patric Niederhauser (30/CH) will start Sunday’s race in Oschersleben from pole position for Rutronik Racing. The Swiss, at the wheel of the #15 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, was the fastest man in qualifying. His time of 1:22.277 minutes shaved 0.411 seconds off the previous ADAC GT Masters qualifying record at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, set on Saturday by France’s Franck Perera (38).

In sunny conditions but a cool nine degrees, it took six laps for Niederhauser to get his tyres up to temperature and clock the fastest time of the session. In doing so, he secured the best possible starting position for himself and partner Luca Engstler (22/Wiggensbach) in Sunday’s race. “Qualifying ran smoothly. There were no interruptions and we were able to heat the tyres perfectly. The car was incredibly good and we are mega happy. We know that we had a good package, but everything has to come together at the right moment. It is important to really understand the tyres, and that will remain the case,” said the pole-sitter.

Jules Gounon (27/F) of Drago Racing Team ZVO, who shares the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Fabian Schiller (24/Troisdorf), qualified second. Raffaele Marciello (27/I) ended the session in third place in the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mann-Filter Team Landgraf. Albert Costa Balboa (31/E) was fourth fastest round the 3.667-kilometre circuit. He and Jack Aitken (26/GB) start from the second row of the grid in the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo for Emil Frey Racing. The winner of Saturday’s race, Ricardo Feller (21/CH) completes the top five in the #29 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. He and his partner Jusuf Owega (20/Cologne) are well placed to claim another top result for Montaplast by Land-Motorsport.