NLS Preview: 24h Qualifiers

There are 132 cars on the provisional entry list for the 24h Qualifiers | Credit: Luna Maas

The 24h Qualifiers are the fourth and fifth rounds of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS), the first double header of the year. This time the 24h layout will be used, so the AMG Arena will be skipped and cars will take a hard left immediately turn one, then complete the remainder of the Grand Prix circuit rather than use the usual Sprintstrecke version.

Last year the 24h Qualifiers had 19 SP9 cars (the top class, where homologated GT3 cars race) competing, but the Max Verstappen effect is in full force this year. A staggering 37 GT3 cars will race in the SP9 class this weekend; each car is using the two four hour races as an opportunity to prepare for the Nürburgring 24h.

Having won his debut NLS round last year, and being unlucky to get disqualified from first place in his second NLS race in NLS 2 this year, Verstappen's No.3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes is favourite to take the best results this weekend. His teammates from NLS 2, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon, are unavailable, so Verstappen will team up with Lucas Auer this time.

Having missed NLS 3, Christopher Haase will be racing the No.16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3. If he has takes the lead in the opening stint once again like he did in NLS 2, then he has a far better chance of keeping it this time once he hands over to his team mates, Alexander Sims and Ben Green.

Having also missed NLS 3, Dunlop Motorsport will also return with Dorian Boccolacci and Alessio Picariello in the No.17 Porsche 911 GT3 R. The team are new this year, so the 24h Qualifiers will provide crucial experience before the Nürburgring 24h. Tim Heinemann, Sven Müller and Morris Schuring will race the other tyre manufacturer liveried Porsche, in the blue and green Falken Motorsport colours.

The other two Pro Porsche entries entries come from Dinamic GT and Manthey. The Dinamic GT car will be driven by Michele Beretta, Michael Christensen, Alessandro Ghiretti and Joel Sturm, whereas the Manthey car will be driven by Thomas Preining, Matt Campbell and Christoph Breuer, noticeably missing Kévin Estre who will be racing in the IMSA.

The Grello is always a fearsome competitor on the Nordschleife | Credit: Luna Maas

After stealing the victory in the final 15 minutes of the six hour GT World Challenge race last weekend in dramatic fashion, Nicki Thiim will race with Chrsitian Krognes in the No.34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin. The Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 is the sole Ferrari on the 132 car entry list, it will be driven by David Perel, Dennis Marschall, Thierry Vermeulen and Thomas Neubauer.

There is a strong argument saying the No.47 KCMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 should have won NLS 3 last weekend. The car took pole, and looked set to win the race however picked up an 85 second stop-and-go penalty in the final hour. The car will return this weekend with Nirei Fukuzumi, Naoyo Gamo, Jesse Krohn and David Pittard.

The third Pro Mercedes to enter the race is the No.80 Team Ravenol car, it will be driven by Maro Engel, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz.

The No.77 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 inherited the win from the KCMG car last week, and will race once again this weekend. None its drivers from last weekend will race the car this time, as Charles Weerts and Ugo de Wilde be in the driving seat.

The winner from NLS 2, the No.99 Rowe Racing BMW, will also race this weekend, with Max Hesse, Jordan Pepper and Kelvin van der Linde. BMW are once again putting the M3 Touring on track this weekend, as part of an April Fools prank turned real project aiming to race an M3 at the Nürburgring 24h. Jens Klingmann, Connor de Phillipi and Neil Verhagen will race the car in the SP-X class, rather than SP9.

The stunning BMW Z4 will race in the SP9 Am class. The car is meant to be a nostalgic throwback, but unfortunately it did not make it past the first half of NLS 3 because they picked up a broken suspension after a spin.

The final two cars in the SP9 Pro class are the only ones of their manufacturer. The HRT Ford Mustang GT3 will be raced by Vincent Kolb and Frank Stippler, the ringmeister is returning to the Nürburgring for the second time this year. Luca Engstler, Mirko Bortolotti and Patric Niederhauser will drive the Red Bull Team ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

Frank Stippler will be back at the Nürburgring for the 24h Qualifiers | Credit: Luna Maas

Fan favourites, Jimmy Broadbent, Steve Brown, Misha Charoudin and Nürburgring 24h winner Manuel Metzger will be once again racing the No.632 Black Falcon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

The YouTubers have three other cars in their class this week, including the all female WS Racing Porsche of Carrie Schreiner, Janina Schall, Patricija Stalidzane and Fabienne Wohlwend.

The first race will take place on Saturday and the second on Sunday. Saturday's race will take place unusually in the evening at 17:30 German time (16:30 BST) and last four hours, however qualifying will be in the morning, starting at 08:30 (07:30 BST) and lasting 90 minutes. Between qualifying and the race, the German Historic Endurance Championship race will occur at 12:00 (11:00 BST).

Sunday's qualifying session will start at 08:15 (07:15 BST), followed by Top Qualifying at 10:40 (09:40 BST) where the fastest cars from qualifying will go one by one to compete for grid spots. The race will start at 13:00 (12:00 BST), and also last four hours.

As if 37 GT3 cars racing on the Nordschleife is not enough motivation to tune in over the weekend, there is a 30-40% chance of precipitation. Rain spices up racing at most tracks, but at the Nürburgring it can cause mayhem as one area of the track can be stone dry while a few corners later there might be a deluge of rain.

All sessions will be streamed live on YouTube.