Nurburgring 24 Hours: Max Verstappen qualifies for pole shootout with sixth in TQ2

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Max Verstappen scraped through to the pole shootout for the Nurburgring 24 Hours by only finishing sixth in Top Qualifying 2 - topped by Nick Yelloly in the Team Abt Audi.

The four-time Formula 1 world champion set an 8m11.614s which was faster than last year’s overall pole time of 8m12.741s, but Verstappen was still in danger of dropping out late on.

Qualifying is slightly different at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, as Qualifying 1, 2 and 3 are all used to determine grid spots 50 to 161 with TQ1, 2 and 3 being what matters to the frontrunners.

A car must finish inside the top 20 in TQ1 to progress to the second session and the Verstappen Racing Mercedes managed to do that as Lucas Auer took fifth with an 8m14.871s.

Then it was Verstappen’s turn to drive the AMG for the second session, where he needed to finish inside the top seven to progress to the final outing which is determining pole.

It seemed early on that the #3 Mercedes was a banker for TQ3 as the Dutchman went fastest with his first lap (8m14.459s) that put him 0.984s in the lead having kept it clean.

#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon

#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon

That is unlike the current DTM points leader Maro Engel, who spun the sister Mercedes into the Hatzenbach barriers resulting in an early end to one of the event’s pre-favourites.

It was then with approximately four minutes left in the session that drivers headed back out for their second laps, and this is when Verstappen started to drop down the order despite also improving on his final tour.