Verstappen Racing clears first hurdle in Top Qualifying at the Nordschleife

The 24h Nurburgring weekend continues on Friday with Top Qualifying in dry conditions, although the Nordschleife remains slippery after rain during last night's session, in which Verstappen completed a single lap. Auer was first in action for Verstappen Racing.

The session began with two incidents at the German track. The #33 car driven by Michele Di Martino came to a stop on track, causing a slow zone. Last year’s winner Kelvin van der Linde also spun in the #1 BMW, while the #5 and #77 cars made contact into Turn 1.

After his opening lap, Auer sat 14th in the #3 Mercedes-AMG car. He climbed to ninth on his second attempt before improving again to momentarily move up to P3 with an 8:15.711. That was already enough to secure a place in Top Qualifying 3 for the Austrian driver, although he still completed one final lap, setting an 8:14.871, which ended up being the fifth fastest time.

Top Qualifying 2 and 3 continues later today and can also be followed on GPblog.com and GPblog’s YouTube channel.