Both BMW Motorsports entered M3 E92 ended the first qualifying session for the Nurburgring 24 Hours well placed, even with the session stopped an hour early as fog crept across the 25km Nordschleife circuit.
In wet conditions that severely limited the pace of the top car it was the no.26 M3 of Andy Priaulx, Dirk Adorf, Dirk Werner and Dirk Muller that turned the fourth fastest time, lapping in 9:37.984.
“The conditions were really difficult. You could hardly tell whether that section of the circuit was just damp or really wet,” said Priaulx. “The conditions were changing constantly, so you could never find a real rhythm. The decision to abort the session due to the fog was absolutely correct. I hope it will be a bit easier in the second qualifying session.”
The second car, which of Jorg Muller, Augusto Farfus, Pedro Lamy and Uwe Alzen managed the fourteenth fastest time, Muller describing the conditions thus; “I just drove on the Grand Prix circuit, as the visibility out there on the Nordschleife was abysmal. Generally speaking, it went well for us. It was primarily about ensuring every driver completed two laps in order to qualify for the race.”
The fastest time of the session was completed by the SP7 class Hankook Team Farnbacher Ferrari of Dominik Farnbacher, Allan Simonsen, Keen Lehman and Marco Seefried recording a time of 9:20.952.
Due to the wet conditions the final grid positions are likely to be decided by a second qualifying session on Friday afternoon.
