Laurents Hörr (25/Gerlingen, Koiranen Kemppi Motorsport) put together the fastest lap of the first qualifying session in the Prototype Cup Germany at the Norisring. Second place went to Markus Pommer (32/Untereisesheim, Racing Experience), who came out on top after a battle with Oscar Tunjo (27/COL, van ommen racing by DataLab), which lasted several minutes. Max van der Snel (19/NLD, More Motorsport by Reiter) was fourth, his best qualifying result so far in LMP3 racing, followed by debutant Belén García Espinar (23/ESP, van ommen racing by DataLab).
Laurents Hörr made it very clear early in the 15-minute qualifying that anyone wanting to start from pole position would first have to beat him. By the middle of the session, he already had an advantage of roughly half a second over the chasing pack. Although this had shrunk to 0.149 seconds by the end of qualifying, there was no denying Hörr pole position for the seventh race of this season’s Prototype Cup Germany. “It was a really good and problem-free lap, which I managed to produce exactly when the tyres were at their best,” said the happy 25-year-old.
Behind Hörr, Markus Pommer and Oscar Tunjo were battling it out for second place, with the advantage swaying to and fro between the two drivers. In the end, Pommer just had his nose in front and Tunjo had to settle for third. “We had a rather difficult start to the weekend today; we are not where we want to be,” admitted the Columbian. “This is our first time at a street circuit with the LMP3 car, and we are still looking for the perfect approach. However, third place on the grid is definitely not bad. We still have everything to play for tomorrow.”
Max van der Snel was a far happier man than Tunjo. Fourth place was the Dutchman’s best qualifying result to date in the Prototype Cup Germany. Prior to that, he had ended every qualifying in fifth place. “It is important to find the right way to cope with the bumpy track here. Having said that, it is not as bad as I had feared.” Like the Dutch youngster, Zandvoort winner Jan Marschalkowski (20/Inning am Ammersee, MRS GT-Racing) and Dino Steiner (54/Wehingen, Aust Motorsport) also produced their best qualifying performances in the Prototype Cup Germany, ending the session in sixth and ninth place respectively. “Coming into the Norisring weekend, we set ourselves up a little differently and brought some more LMP3 experience into the team,” said Steiner. “As a result, we had the best set-up of the season so far. However, I must say that I generally feel right at home here and the cooperation with my team-mate Constantin Schöll has been excellent. When you feel comfortable and relaxed, but still focus on the job at hand and everything comes together nicely, then the results come too.”
