Nürburgring 24h Top Qualifying 3 line-up decided, as Nick Yelloly goes fastest in Top Qualifying 2 and Maro Engel finds the wall

Credit: Luna Maas

Only a couple of minutes after Top Qualifying 1, 20 cars hit the track for Top Qualifying 2, fighting to be one of the 12 cars in the final Top Qualifying session.

Before the session started, only seven spots were left available, the No.1 Rowe Racing BMW, No.16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi, No.45 Realize Kondo with Rinaldi Ferrari, No.47 KCMG Mercedes and the No.84 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini had already qualified based on their pace in previous Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) rounds.

Current Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) championship leader, Maro Engel, crashed in the Hatzenbach, bringing out a code 60 which lasted the majority of the session. Being one of a few drivers to already have passed the corner where Engel crashed, Max Verstappen set the pace with an 8:14.459 in the No.3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes.

The track went fully green again with three minutes left, and every car went out to try earn themself one of the seven remaining places in Top Qualifying 3. Nick Yelloly was the first to complete a lap with the No.130 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini, going four seconds quicker than Verstappen did previously.

Verstappen was unable to beat Yelloly's time when he finished his lap, remaining in second place but was relegated to third when Ayhancan Güven went second in the No.911 Porsche. The second place was stolen by the No.34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin of Christian Krognes, going ahead of Güven and Verstappen.

Both Ford's managed to snatch a spot in Top Qualifying 3 in the dying moments of the session, and the No.7 Konrad Lamborghini rounded at the top seven.

The cars that will compete in Top Qualifying 3 are:

No.1 Rowe Racing BMW

No.3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes

No.7 Konrad Lamborghini

No.16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi

No.34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin

No.45 Realize Kondo with Rinaldi Ferrari

No.47 KCMG Mercedes

No.64 HRT Ford

No.67 HRT Ford

No.84 Red Bull Team ABT

No.130 Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini

No.911 Manthey Porsche

Top Qualifying 3 will take place at 13:35 local time (12:35 BST), after normal Qualifying 3 takes place for cars not in Top Qualifying at 12:00 local time (11:00 BST).