Comtoyou Racing takes GTWC EU Nürburgring pole position, as championship leaders only in eighth

Credit: SRO/JEP

Comtoyou Racing's No.007 Aston Martin topped GT World Chellenge Europe's penultimate Endurance event qualifying, ahead of Team GetSpeed and Lionspeed GP, with the championship leading No.48 Mann-Filter Mercedes down in eighth.

As it happened Dries Vanthoor, back in the No.991 Paradine BMW after the season opener in Paul Ricard, proved his class by setting the combined Bronze/Silver Q1 benchmark, with a 1:54.100, 0.272 faster than Silver leader Max Hofer in the No.9 Pxre Racing Porsche, putting his team in a prime early position to try and achieve the class pole position.

After the Bronze and Silver cars completed their part of the session, Pro and Gold entries got theirs, with Garage 59's Tom Fleming in the No.58 McLaren, achieving the fastest Q1 time, with a 1:53.412, setting the team up with a great advantage of two and a half tenths to the second-placed No.7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin of Mattia Drudi and three and a half tenths to third-placed Ricardo Feller in the No.80 Lionspeed GP Porsche.

In Q2, with the next group of drivers and with brand new tyres on all cars, things changed drastically for the top of the Bronze and Silver classes, with Matisse Lismont in the No.30 Team WRT BMW setting a stunning time of 1:53.815, the only Silver or Bronze car under the 1:54 mark thus far, topping the first half of Q2 and pushing his entry up the timesheets, to end up third in the combined qualifying averages.

Credit: SRO/JEP

Darren Leung could not replicate Vanthoor's exploits and the No.991 Paradine BMW sunk down the order, as sustained great times in both Q1 and Q2, saw the No.74 Kessel Ferrari and the No.87 Winward Mercedes having identical combined times of 1:54.357 on first and second in Bronze/Silver, with the former on top, having set the laptimes earlier in the session.

The No.46 Team WRT BMW was fastest overall in Q2, in the hands of Max Hesse, with a time of 1:53.251, with the No.80 Lionspeed GP Porsche jumping to first in the combined qualifying classification, thanks to a strong enough Q2 from Thomas Preining, with Garage 59's No.59 and No.58 entries in second and third, only a few thousands of second behind.

That set things up for a crucial and exciting Q3 session, where the last set of drivers held their teams fortunes on their shoulders. The last available ten-minute session for the Bronze and Silver entries provided us with more on-the-limit efforts, with the No.30 BMW ultimately achieving Silver Pole, with Amaury Cordeel's efforts just enough to hold on.

No.222 2seas Motorsport Mercedes received the Bronze Pole honours, its three drivers balanced enough, with Reece Barr's fifth place in Q3 enough for class pole and second amongst Silver and Bronze entries, just ahead of Team RJN's No.23 McLaren that leap-frogged forwards thanks to a spectacular laptime of 1:53.070 from Ben Dörr, which was Q3's fastest overall time and Paradine's No.991 BMW, with James Kellett doing enough to offset Leung's struggles.

Overall Pole Position though belonged to the No.7 Comtoyou Aston Martin, despite their drivers having not gone fastest in any of the three sessions, though Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim were consistently fast enough in order to secure Pole, 0.127 ahead of Team GetSpeed's No.17 Mercedes that overcame a weak Q1, to get up to second and ahead of Lionspeed GP's No.80 Porsche in third.

Credit: SRO/JEP

Garage 59's No.58 entry secured Gold pole and a fourth-row start in seventh overall, alongside the No.48 Mann-Filter Mercedes, which needs a fourth place in the upcoming three-hour race, in order for Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer to be crowned 2026 GT World Challenge Endurance Cup champions.

Qualifying Results - Overall

1st No.7 Comtoyou Racing, Aston Martin

2nd No.17 Team GetSpeed, Mercedes

3rd No.80 Lionspeed GP, Porsche

4th No.59 Garage 59, McLaren

5th No.32 Team WRT, BMW (three-place grid penalty to be served)