Vanthoor and Niederhauser prove un-defeatable in the Nürburgring 24h Qualifiers.

Benjamin Crundwell
May 25
4 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

Written by Benjamin Crundwell, Edited by Aaron Carroll

No.16 Scherer Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RS | Credit: Luna Maas

A wet start and a drying track caused a hectic race in the second of two Nürburgring 24h qualifiers, but Laurens Vanthoor and Patric Niederhauser emerged on top for the second consecutive day after a perfect drive from the duo in the No.16 Porsche.

Catch up on race one here.

The rain from race one refused to surrender before qualifying for race two. It looked like the Porsches would start from first again, but Fabian Schiller made a last gasp effort to take pole position by three tenths of a second in the No.14 Team GetSpeed Mercedes.

Race one winner, the No.16 Porsche started second ahead of the No.27 Red Bull liveried Lamborghini in third place. Kevin Estre lead the field by eight seconds the first qualifying session with the No.911 "Grello" Porsche, but had to start 17th due to a car problem in top qualifying.

At the end of the formation lap, the No.911 pulled into the pits to replace it's inters with slicks. The No.45 Ferrari had the same idea, but a slower stop dropped it behind the No.911 - overtake number one complete for the feared Manthey squad.

Down into turn one the No.14 defended it's lead against the No.16, who was stuck on the tail of the Mercedes all the way through the Nordschleife. The No.27 had a cautious start, dropping to tenth by the end of the first lap. Contrary to his brilliant performances so far in 2025, Frank Stippler hit the wall at Quiddelbacher Höhe with the No.8 Audi, ruining his teams chances at taking their maiden win this season.

Before arriving on the GP track, Patric Niederhauser had made his way past Luca Stolz in the No.14, both cars pulled into the pits to change onto slicks, leaving the No.17 Mercedes in first place. The lead only lasted a lap as the No.27 Lamborghini found the pace to move past it's German rival.

Although fans expected Estre to make places on track, by pitting before the start he undercut nine cars on the first lap including the No.16 and No.14. At the start of the fourth lap the No.911 was up to fourth place and chasing down the No.17, No.55 and No.27 who were yet to pit.

While the No.911 chased the leaders, the two Falken Motorsport Porsches (No.44 and No.33) fought hard against the No.16 and No.14 on the Nordschleife. The quartet of cars had an intense battle, including the spectacular moment the three Porsches made an overtake on the outside of the karussell against the Mercedes who was boxed in by traffic.

Although he was yet to pit, the No.27 managed to keep his lap times only marginally slower than the No.911, suggesting he may have started the race on the slick tyre. His gap to "Grello" was 20 seconds, but dropping by a few seconds a lap.

The No.17 Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Credit: Luna Maas

At the end of the first hour, Engelhart bought the Lamborghini into the pits for Marco Mapelli to take it over. Ten minutes later, the No.44 Falken Motorsports Porsche had a puncture on the Nordschleife, taking one of the protagonists out of the fight to win the race.

Almost hitting a slow Porsche Cayman GT4 on the pit entry, the No.911 came in allowing Patrick Pilet to get into "Grello". The Porsche came out the pits a minute behind the No.27 as they had had a longer minimum pitstop time due to a longer stint. In the process, the No.16 Porsche jumped ahead of the No.911 to take the provisional second place.

Also separating the No.27 and No.911 was the No.45 Ferrari, who was the other car to pit before the race started. After only a few laps though the No.45 pit, offsetting it’s strategy from the rest.

The No.14 and No.33 were attached to one another for the first 90 minutes of the race, after making their pitstops they continued to trade positions in fifth and sixth position.

With two hours left, Daniel Juncadella took over the leading No.27 Lamborghini. A few laps later the No.16 pit to get Laurens Vanthoor in the car, overcutting the No.27. The No.911 pit on the same lap to also make a driver change, putting Estre back in the car. “Grello” came out the pits only 10 seconds behind the No.27.

30 minutes after the No.27, the No.14 and No.33 came into the pits, Schiller and Alessio Picariello jumping behind the wheels of the two cars respectively. The pair came out half a minute behind the No.911, toe-to-tail as they had been the whole race.

In classic Estre style, he slid his No.911 past the No.27 to take second place with only 45 minutes remaining. His WEC (World Endurance Championship) teammate, Vanthoor (in the No.16) was 45 seconds up the road, too far to catch.

The No.911 followed the No.16 into the pits for the final time with 30 minutes remaining. The No.33 and No.14 waited until they were only a handful of laps away from the chequered flag before their final tyre changes, the No.33 split the No.16 and No.911 when it rejoined the track, but the No.14 was less fortunate, a slower stop dropping Schiller down to fifth place.

No.911 Grello Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R | Credit: Luna Maas

As a final challenge for the drivers, the rain fell on the final lap but Vanthoor held onto the lead to bring the No.16 Porsche home in first place, the cars second win in two days. Picariello was half a minute behind in the No.33 Porsche, as Estre completed the all Porsche podium in the No.911.

Schiller got ahead of the No.27 Lamborghini (which led for so long) on the last lap to put the No.14 Mercedes in fourth. The No.17 Mercedes came home in sixth.

After the two Nürburgring 24h Qualifier races, it is clear Porsche will be the team to beat on the 21st June when the green flag falls for the Nürburgring 24h race.

Final Result - Top 10