Audi win NLS 24h Qualifiers race 2 as Verstappen suffers disappointing result
- Owen Bradley
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written by Owen Bradley
The No.16 Audi squad took a dominant victory, with Ben Green, Alexander Sims and Christopher Haase at the wheel.
The Audi squad beat the No.3 Verstappen Winward Racing Mercedes that was driven by Max Verstappen and Lucas Auer, as the duo were forced into the pits near half distance, and spent 30 minutes in the pit lane, despite Max Verstappen opening a 30-second lead earlier in the race.
All eyes were on Max Verstappen and the No.3 Mercedes squad at the start of the race, with the Dutchman climbing through the order rapidly after starting from fifth place. The four-time champion immediately climbed into fourth place, overtaking the No.23 BMW that overshot the first corner.
Meanwhile, the No.911 Porsche made a fantastic start, going from fourth to second place in a matter of corners. Towards the end of the circuit section of the track, the Porsche was challenging the No.45 Rinaldi Ferrari for the lead of the race.
However, coming down the back straight before completing the opening lap, it was the No.16 Audi of Christopher Haase that was able to overtake the No.911 Porsche of Thomas Preining, with the Audi powering past the Porsche.
Haase was eventually able to gain momentum and get past the race leading No.45 Rinaldi Ferrari. After starting from third place, Haase and the No.16 Audi squad had managed to move up into the lead of the race.
Verstappen was the next driver to showcase some overtaking ability, with the Dutchman utilising the lapped traffic to his advantage, getting through on Preining in the No.911 Porsche for third place, with the four-time champion closing down on the leaders.
Verstappen then muscled his way past the No.45 Rinaldi Ferrari, with traffic pushing the Ferrari to the outside of the corner, as the Dutchman slotted in. With traffic already playing a huge role in the race, it quickly became a two horse race at the front between Max Verstappen and Christopher Haase once again.
On Lap 4, Verstappen was able to overtake Haase into foxhole, putting the No.3 Winward Mercedes squad into the lead of the race. However, later in the lap, Haase was able to get a run on the Dutchman, challenging Verstappen down the back straight and into the penultimate corner, to no avail. Verstappen maintained the lead.
Just one lap later, at the same section, Haase came back at Verstappen, which offered up the exact same result. However, after multiple laps of racing, the pair were separated by less than a second, with Haase pushing Verstappen to the limit.
Suddenly, the No.45 Rinaldi Ferrari was involved in a huge incident which left the car stricken on the side of the road. Unfortunately for the polesitters, it was race over. Towards the end of the first half of the race, Verstappen had built a steady and strong 30-second gap ahead of Haase.
Meanwhile, throughout all of the battling at the front of the field, the No.84 Red Bull sponsored Lamborghini squad had been maintaining within range of the lead cars, benefitting from two of the cars picking up damage or going off track.
The Lamborghini made a strong start, and eventually found itself in contention of the race victory towards the end of the four hours.
Suddenly, Verstappen pulled into the pit lane unexpectedly. The Dutchman had hit something out on the track, as the front air intake of the Mercedes had a huge gaping hole in the front. This put the No.3 Verstappen Winward Racing Mercedes out of contention for the race victory, handing it to the No.16 Audi squad.
The second half of the race was largely uneventful, until the closing stages of the race, where the No.911 Porsche and No.80 Mercedes duelled intensely for the final step on the podium.
Meanwhile, the No.84 Lamborghini had been closing down on the leading No.16 Audi, taking approximately two to three seconds out of their lead with every lap.
Eventually, it was the No.16 Scherer Sport Audi that came through to take the race victory, with Ben Green at the wheel. The No.911 Porsche of Preining did secure the final podium position after beating the No.80 Mercedes of Fabian Schiller, with the pair battling intensely in the final 10 minutes, going side-by-side for a large duration of a lap.
Whilst it was ultimately a disappointing weekend for Max Verstappen and the No.3 Winward Mercedes squad, this was also their final race ahead of the 24 Hours. With a series of issues across the last few races at the circuit, the Dutchman will be hoping that they have identified and can work hard to fix them, to put themselves in contention next month for the 24 Hour race.
Finally, after a tough weekend which devastatingly saw a fatality on Saturday, on behalf of the entire DIVEBOMB team - we extend our deepest condolences to Juha Miettinen's family. Our thoughts are sincerely with them during this difficult time.
