The 24 Hours of the Nürburgring qualifying race: a prelude to the big event

Teams, drivers and motor racing enthusiasts already have circled 5th and 6th April on their calendars: after all, that weekend is the date of the new ADAC Qualifying Race 24h Race Nürburgring, offering the teams the opportunity to optimally prepare for the ADAC Zurich 24h Race in June. With the public announcement and the definition of important underlying data, the ADAC Nordrhein’s event organisers early underline: the new qualifying race in early April will be a hit for the crowds and a perfect preparation opportunity for teams and drivers at the same time.

Over the course of the qualifying-race event, the teams and drivers can spend more than 15 hours on the Nordschleife. Enough time to perfectly prepare their racing cars for the most challenging race of the year. So, it comes as no surprise that the teams interest in participating in this event is massive.

“Every single kilometre covered on the Nordschleife is valuable,” explains Stefan Wendl, Team Manager of BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert. His team plans to contest the ADAC Zurich 24h Race with two BMWs Z4 GT3 and will make extensive use of the qualifying race. “In the off-season, BMW worked very hard on improving the car’s reliability,” Wendl adds. “In the Dubai 24-Hour Race held early this year we were able to cover the entire distance without encountering any problems whatsoever. Now, we want to carry this experience over to the Nordschleife. And the 24h qualifying race is a great testing opportunity on the way to achieving this goal.”

Night qualifying: a foretaste of the 24h Race

A special highlight of the ADAC Qualifying Race 24h Race will be the first qualifying session held on Saturday evening. From sunset, the teams will be testing for two and a half hours into the night. For the motor-racing enthusiasts, this session should be – apart from the six-hour qualifying race itself – the definite highlight of the event. For the teams, however, there is more to gain in the two qualifying sessions: here, they can secure one of 10 slots for the ADAC Zurich 24h-Race top-30-qualifying and prepare their cars even better for the main event in June as it was possible to date.

“The fact that we are going to test into the night is a particularly positive aspect of the first qualifying session,” stresses Wendl. “This fact offers us the chance of attending to the lighting system and go into details while doing so. It may sound trite but if you want to be fast you first of all have to see as much of the track as possible. Therefore, the headlights are a really vital component but the opportunities to attend to them are rare.” Meanwhile, contesting the qualifying race also is extremely attractive for the drivers. After all, newcomers and returnees can acquire the necessary Nordschleife expertise in just this one event.

According to the ADAC Zurich 24h-Race regulations, you have to have competed in three VLN rounds to do so but due to the extreme long track times, an equivalent level of expertise now can be acquired in the ADAC Qualifying Race 24h Race on a single weekend.

Fans may look forward to great specials and low ticket prices

Those who want to attend the ADAC Qualifying Race 24h Race Nürburgring as spectators may look forward to a great package. The ticket prices amount to €15 (day ticket adults, Saturday/Sunday) and €25 (weekend) respectively. And the tickets do not only include access to the GP-circuit grandstands and the paddock but also to the starting grid. In addition, it is planned to hold a big autographing sessions for the fans in the paddock. The access around the Nordschleife is free. The ticket-price details and further details for the visitors will be published in time for the event at the event website.

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